Persuading the citizens of industrialised nations to pay up for the sins of their grandfathers will be tricky, to put it mildly
to help them deal with damage caused by immediate climate-related disasters, such as floods, and creeping ones, like desertification. The second is that fixing climate change will require tinkering with the fundamentals of the global financial system. Once a niche idea, it too is gathering momentum.Loss and damage generated the most headlines.
Even if the idea of a separate loss-and-damage fund does catch on, there is still plenty to argue about when it comes to the question of who, exactly, should pay. There are many ways to estimate a country’s historic emissions, for instance . One analysis compiled by Carbon Brief, a specialist website, and based on a variety of scientific papers and official sources, includes both industrial emissions and those from changes in land use, such as cutting down forests.
Ms Mottley’s initiative has won support from France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, who told the delegates at Sharm El-Sheikh that the World Bank andneeded new rules and new thinking to grapple with climate change. Mr Macron was particularly keen on the idea that, in the aftermath of a climate-related natural disaster, poor countries could have their debt repayments temporarily suspended. But not all Western leaders sounded as approving of the new thinking.
This time, though, both rich and poor countries were feeling more squeezed than usual. National debt burdens ballooned during the covid-19 pandemic. The rising cost of food and energy, a consequence of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, is causing belt-tightening in rich countries—especially in Europe—and havoc in poor ones, whose suffering is further compounded by the strength of the dollar. The world’s economic outlook is gloomier than it has been in recent years.
Cutting emissions, adapting to a warmer climate, and paying for climate-caused damage are all linked. Faster decarbonisation means a lower bill for adaptation, and less spent on rebuilding after disasters. But one lesson from27 is that the world has not yet worked out how to do all three simultaneously. As the delegates staggered to their beds, Alok Sharma, a British politician who presided over last year’s talks, hailed the creation of a loss and damage fund.