WASHINGTON: US overtures ahead of this year’s United Nations climate conference — COP27 — suggest that one of the world’s highest carbon-emitters is now open to addressing the issue of ‘loss and damage’, something that climate-ravaged developing countries have been looking for a commitment on for several years now.

At a recent State Department briefing ahead of the UN moot being held at Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt, US climate envoy John Kerry said he was “anxious to see the loss and damage issue dealt with upfront and in a real way at the COP”.

“We anticipate that it will be an agenda item, and we’re perfectly comfortable helping it to be that, which means at some point you’ve got to have an outcome… and we certainly support coming out with some kind of structure that provides for appropriate financial arrangements which we hope to arrive at,” he said.

Mr Kerry also told various media outlets this week that they would be open to discussing “potential fina­­ncial arrangements” with the vict­ims, after years of avoiding the topic.

Sherry says major contributors to global warming ‘repeatedly fall short’ on pledges

In another media engagement, he told reporters that the US will not be “obstructing” talks on loss and damage at COP27. “How do you do this in a way that actually produces money, and gets a system in place? We’re totally in favour of that,” he said of the US position on loss-and-damage-related funding.

At Sharm el-Sheikh, world leaders and scientists will spend two weeks debating how to cut planet-warming emissions and protect humanity from the impacts of climate change.

Pakistan is the most recent victim of global warming, which caused widespread floods and unprecedented rains in a country already facing a major economic crisis.

A World Bank report, released two weeks ago, estimated that weather and climate-related disasters have affected over 75 million Pakistanis in the past three decades, with estimated economic losses of over $29 billion, or roughly $1bn a year. The report noted that the country needs at least $16bn to deal with the devastations caused by this year’s floods.

According to the Global Climate Risk Index, Pakistan is responsible for less than one per cent of the world’s planet-warming gases. The US is responsible for 21.5pc, China for 16.5pc and the European Union for 15pc. Yet, Pakistan is the eighth most vulnerable nation to the climate crisis.

Mr Kerry’s comments open up the possibility of more support for the victims of the climate change, like Pakistan.

Pakistan’s Minister for Climate Change Sherry Rehman, who has repeatedly spoken about loss and damage and the issue of climate justice, told Dawn on Thursday they were seeking to operationalise this agenda at the upcoming COP27 summit.

She said that Pakistan was on the frontline of vulnerability, while being an almost negligible emitter and pointed out that developing nations have been suffering the brunt of the climate consequences of the global warming crisis.

“All we are saying is that the burden of these emissions should be shared equitably, not equally, let alone disproportionately, which is the case right now.” She noted that the countries that were major contributors to global warming “repeatedly fall short” on the pledges they have made at COPs. “This must change.”

Ms Rehman pointed out that there was still “no real basket of accessible funds for climate resilient recovery, let alone disaster-assistance”.

Since both are triggered by climate impacts, “the economic buffer for countries already in debt-stress, should be clearly appropriated and disbursed as climate funds that are easy to access, predictable transfers,” she added.

Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2022