Reparations a no-go zone at COP27

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South Africa’s chief negotiator on climate change, Maesela Kekana, confirmed in an interview there was tension at COP27 as reparations for loss and damage became a talking point. 

Delegates had disagreed on who was responsible for climate reparations and how the funding would be released to developing and poorer countries.

With only a few days left of the conference in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, developing countries are putting increasing pressure on wealthier nations to pay up, with $75.8 million being pledged in “loss and damage” payments so far.

Kekana feared, with only two days left, it would be close to impossible for countries to agree on a funding model. 

Developing countries had been calling for reparations as the present description of loss and damage excludes liability or compensation for past harm. Loss and damage refers to payments for current, unavoidable climate impact.

According to the World Research Institute, there is no agreement yet over what counts as “loss and damage” in climate disasters.

Some countries are calling for a fund to be set up which specifically deals with loss and damage. But the question of who is the most responsible remains. 

Since the 1800s, countries such as the United States, a number of European states, the United Kingdom and Russia have contributed the most emissions. Does this mean they need to pay more? 

Under the Paris Agreement, signed in 2015 by 196 parties, there are provisions for loss and damage under Article 8. But there is a clause in it that suggests this would be voluntary and not mandatory.

South Africa is not guilt free, being a major emitter on the continent. Where does that leave the country in terms of paying reparations? 

It is unlikely these questions will be answered at COP27 but developing nations are calling for it to be on the discussion table at the minimum. 

Early this week, speaking at the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment meeting, South Africa’s environment minister Barbara Creecy called for immediate financial aid for developing countries hit by climate disasters, laying the bill at the door of the US and Europe’s richest nations. 

“Wealthy countries should provide aid through a so-called loss and damage mechanism and multilateral development banks should be recapitalised to provide more finance to tackle global warming,” she said. 

“From the perspective of the African Group of Negotiators we do need to see immediate support for loss and damage on the continent,” Creecy said. “Of course, we want money right now,” she added.

Heidi Chow, an executive director at Debt Justice, which aims to end debt that exploits people and the planet, said in a statement: “Climate-vulnerable countries did not cause the climate crisis and yet they are being forced into a debt trap to pay for the damage unleashed by the climate crisis.

“Rich, polluting countries created the climate crisis and should stop shirking their responsibilities and pay up through grant-based climate finance, set up a loss and damage finance facility at COP27 and cancel the debt.”

Countries such as Pakistan have pushed strongly for loss and damage to be put on the agenda for negotiation. The country recently suffered major losses after devastating floods.

Developing countries are demanding compensation from the world’s largest emitters for bearing the worst impacts of climate change. They are also calling for accountability from the countries that have historically contributed the most greenhouse gas emissions to address the serious damage that climate change inflicts on low-income countries.

At last year’s COP26 summit in Glasgow, Scotland, wealthy nations rejected proposals for a specific loss and damage fund, although they did start a “dialogue” on the issue.

Developing countries and small island states have argued that they contribute a tiny amount of emissions but continue to be highly impacted by climate change.

This is the first time that the item of loss and damage has been put on the agenda after many years of wealthy countries avoiding the conversation, however, the details of exactly who should contribute and how much need to be thrashed out.

Richer countries, already falling short on previous commitments to the developing world, are wary about exposing themselves to open-ended liabilities.

Poor countries, represented by the Alliance of Small Island States, a coalition of countries threatened by sea-level rise, have also been highlighting the need to address loss and damage since the 1990s. 

“The floods that swept through Pakistan this August resulted in an estimated $30 billion in damage. Cyclone Idai, which struck Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe in 2019, caused $2.2 billion in economic losses and more than 1 000 deaths.

“This year’s drought in Somalia — the worst the country has seen in 40 years — has displaced 1.1 million people and is expected to put 6.7 million people in acute food insecurity as crops fail and herds starve,” they said in a statement.

Floods hit Punjab province in Pakistan this year, causing $30 billion in damage. (Shahid Saeed Mirza/AFP)

The International Monetary Fund reports that Mozambique was forced to take on a $118 million loan after the cyclone.

The Alliance of Small Island States said the issue should have been addressed long ago. Instead, rich countries continue to burn fossil fuels that are threatening the survival of some islands.  

“We do not want to be treated as though you are doing us a favour by adding an agenda item or creating a voluntary fund,” it said. This “reflects the floor of what is acceptable; it is our bare minimum.” 

Scientists argue that keeping the average global temperature rise to 1.5°C is needed to avert the worst effects of climate change.

Sandeep Chamling Rai, senior adviser for the Global Adaptation Policy at WWF, said: “The catastrophic climate impacts that we are witnessing around the world are just the tip of the iceberg.”

He added that without urgent action to combat the climate crisis, and to build resilience of communities and ecosystems to climate-related disasters, the world will face an unprecedented and protracted humanitarian and ecological crisis. 

“In the last few hours of negotiating time we have left at COP27, parties need to ensure the safety of vulnerable people and biodiversity with a road map for doubling adaptation finance and allocating at least 50% of public climate finance for adaptation as grant finance. 

“Let’s not make adaptation a step-brother of mitigation and loss and damage when the COP is happening in Africa, one of the most vulnerable continents,” he said in a statement. 

During COP15 in Denmark in 2009, wealthy countries pledged $100 billion to help developing countries and poorer countries adapt to climate change impact, however, they have failed to meet the target. 

City Press reports that Arona Soumare, the principal climate change and green growth officer of the African Development Bank, said the bank wanted to see finance towards adaptation in line with the Paris agreement receiving priority. 

“We know that Africa has only 3% access to global finance so we made it a priority and we are now committed to this new strategy to support African countries to increase access to finance to move to 10% by 2030, so from 3% to 10%. 

“If we all work together, we will allow the continent to access more climate funding. In the last 10 years, we have achieved important results.

“We were able, through our second action plan 2016 to 2021, to increase our climate investment to 9% and from there to 41%. It is the same now on adaptation, from 35% to 67% last year, so it is possible if we make it a priority and make sure we support the right objectives. 

“The next few days are very important and African countries are very worried about this,” he said.

A report by Carbon Brief argues that, based on the $100 billion climate finance, the US had contributed $8 billion in climate financing by 2020, leaving it with a shortfall of $32 billion if the country were to pay its relative share for its historical emissions. 

A study by European parliament research services projects that the most vulnerable nations will need between $290 billion and $580 billion a year to pay for unavoidable climate losses by 2030.