Climate fund: Donor base, beneficiaries to be clarified by ’23

NEW DELHI: Donor base and beneficiaries' points on the loss and damage fund agreement at COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh will be clarified by next year (COP28) as big economies like India and China have not been in favour of being mandatory contributors to the fund.
Though rich nations led by EU emphasised that the donor base of the new fund should also include big economies, both
India and China argued during consultations that the providing money to the new fund must be the responsibility of only rich nations whose historical cumulative emission of greenhouse gases (GHG) led to global warming that worsened the impacts of climate change.
Countries also agreed at COP27 to establish a ‘transitional committee’ to make recommendations on how to operationalize both the new funding arrangements and the fund at COP28 next year. The first meeting of the transitional committee is expected to take place before the end of March 2023.
From India's point of view, inclusion of "transition to sustainable lifestyles and sustainable patterns of consumption and production" in the COP27 cover decision is the big takeaway as the country has long been pitching for a paradigm shift from mindless and destructive consumption (of rich nations) to mindful and deliberate utilization of resources to combat climate change.
"Inclusion of sustainable lifestyle is the most significant for us. It is Prime Minister Narendra Modi who has made the pitch for an environmentally-friendly lifestyle through his mantra of Mission LiFE (lifestyle for environment) and the world today moved in that direction by including it in the implementation plan to address climate change," said environment minister Bhupender Yadav while welcoming the move, showing the consensus decision of all countries on this point.
The final outcome of the COP27 also retains the Glasgow climate pact's points on mitigation -- "phase down" of unabated coal power and "phase out" of inefficient fossil fuel subsidies with conditions that’s suitable for India -- after initial hiccups. India had to intervene a day before the conclusion of the talks to get it corrected in the draft text when it appeared to be a move by certain countries to bring "phase out" for coal and remove the conditions which India always argues to be important for supporting its poor population in terms of subsidising cooking fuel, farming operations and other livelihood support activities.
There are, however, still few loose ends of the COP27 outcome which are to be stitched together in due course as fossil fuel phase down points remain missing despite being supported by India and EU, but overall the COP27 will always be remembered for loss and damage — included in the COP agenda for the first time and finally resulted in an agreement on setting up new funds -- that had been on fringe for 30 years.
The COP27 also set up a four-year work programme on climate action in agriculture and food security, and on just transition for energy use. Since it'll have implications for India, Yadav during his intervention in closing plenary made it clear that the farmers should not be burdened with any mitigation efforts and why the developed countries should take lead in just transition.
"Agriculture, the mainstay of livelihoods of millions of smallholder farmers, will be hard hit from climate change. So, we should not burden them with mitigation responsibilities. Indeed, India has kept mitigation in agriculture out of its NDCs," he said.
On establishing a work programme on just transition, the minister said, "For most developing countries, just transition cannot be equated with decarbonization, but with low-carbon development. Developing countries need independence in their choice of energy mix, and in achieving the SDGs. Developed countries taking the lead in climate action is therefore a very important aspect of the global just transition."
After arriving at the landmark decision on creating a fund for loss and damage at the climate summit, the COP27 President Sameh Shoukry said: “The work that we’ve managed to do here (Sharm el-Sheikh) in the past two weeks, and the results we have together achieved, are a testament to our collective will, as a community of nations, to voice a clear message that rings loudly today, here in this room and around the world: that multilateral diplomacy still works…. despite the difficulties and challenges of our times, the divergence of views, level of ambition or apprehension, we remain committed to the fight against climate change…. we rose to the occasion, upheld our responsibilities and undertook the important decisive political decisions that millions around the world expect from us.”
Reacting to the COP27 outcome, the Least Developed Countries (LDC) group, representing 46 countries most vulnerable to climate change said, “This is the first time in many years that our nations do not come out of a COP empty-handed. COP27 has delivered a historic decision in establishing a fund to address loss and damage. The decision responds to one of our Group’s biggest demands over the past decades.”
Madeleine Diouf Sarr, Chair of the LDC Group said, “The signal this decision sends to the world and to ourselves as parties is faith in this multilateral process and its results upon which our future depends. We’re pleased to leave Sharm el-Sheikh with a fund for addressing loss and damage. This is the result of strong unity amongst the G77 (including India) and China and decades of persistence in demanding climate justice.”