US remains key blocker on adopting a Loss and Damage finance facility at COP27
14 November 2022
Full press conference of 14 November available on:
CAN: Climate Action Network Press Briefing on COP27 | UNFCCC
14 November 2022:
Today civil society speakers at the Climate Action Network press briefing highlighted the outlook for week 2 of the negotiations at COP27.
The panels responded to a new draft of the cover decision text that came out over the weekend highlighting in particular that countries like the USA and some EU countries like Sweden and France were blocking progress on establishing a Loss and Damage finance facility at COP27.
The briefing also emphasized that the continued influence of the fossil fuel lobby posed a huge risk for outcomes from COP27- which should deliver on strong language for a phase out of all fossil fuels- coal, oil and gas. Expansion of fossil fossils are the cause of climate disasters, they said.
At the press conference, Rachel Simon, Climate and Development Policy Expert at CAN Europe, said: “Action to address loss and damage was proposed more than 30 years ago, even before the UNFCCC existed. Developed countries should not just sit, wait and delay progress on loss and damage. That’s an age-old strategy and we risk seeing inaction until 2024 and beyond. The EU should play an active role to achieve a substantial outcome here at COP27, which should be no less than agreeing to a financial facility to address the impacts of climate change.”
Rachel Cleetus, Policy Director, Climate and Energy Program, Union of Concerned Scientist, said: “Addressing climate loss and damage in a meaningful way is a litmus test for the success of COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. Climate vulnerable low- and middle-income countries are already suffering devastating harms, wrought in large part by the heat-trapping emissions of richer nations. Instead of forcing climate-vulnerable countries to wait endlessly for the solution they are desperately calling for, the onus is on the United States, the EU and other rich countries to agree to a loss and damage finance facility at this COP. The facility should be up and running within two years with new and additional grants-based funding.”
“Delaying or refusing to set up a loss and damage finance facility will not change the scientific fact that climate-driven extreme events and slow-onset disasters will continue to accelerate causing increasing harm to the poorest and most marginalized people. Denying a strong, fair and clear outcome on loss and damage here at COP27 would essentially mean that richer nations are continuing to shamefully duck their responsibilities and compounding the climate injustices they are foisting on climate-vulnerable countries.”
David Tong, Global Industry Campaign Manager at Oil Change International, said:
“This COP is filled with Big Oil and Gas lobbyists like never before — and we know the COP Presidency wants them here. But the reality is that there is no room for new oil and gas expansion if we are to meet the Paris Agreement goals and protect communities. Burning just the oil and gas in developed, operating fields now would take us beyond 2ºC warming, let alone 1.5ºC. It’s time to stop funding fossils and to end the fossil fuel era.”
“COP27 must build on the foundation laid in Glasgow. For decades, fossil fuels were the elephant in the room. We must not allow oil and gas companies to take us backwards. The world’s most vulnerable and oppressed peoples are depending on us. Countries like India and the European Union must stand firm in their demands for the COP decision text to call for phasing out all fossil fuels. ‘Phasing down’ fossils is not enough, and it is too late to phase out just one fossil fuel at a time. Oil, gas, and coal all have to go.”
“No industry is more responsible for the climate crisis and the loss and damage it causes than Big Oil, Big Gas, and Big Coal. The companies that did the most to cause this crisis must be kept out of these negotiations and made to pay for their destruction.”
Lucy Ntongai, Gender and Climate Change Project Co-ordinator at ActionAid Kenya, said: “As climate disasters continue to escalate, it’s having devastating consequences for women and girls as they are being disproportionately impacted by losses and damages.”
“The Horn of Africa is experiencing its fifth season of drought and millions of people are facing famine. As men are forced to leave home to look for new pastures, women are taking their daughters out of school to walk miles and miles a day to collect water.”
“We urgently need governments to set up a new funding facility so that women and girls can rebuild and recover in the face of losses and damages caused by climate change.”
Contact:
For more information, contact Dharini Parthasarathy, Global Communications Lead, CAN International; email: dparthasarathy@climatenetwork.org, or WhatsApp/call on +918826107830
About Climate Action Network:
Climate Action Network (CAN) is a global network of over 1800 NGOs in over 150 countries, working to fight the climate crisis. www.climatenetwork.org .