After 30 years of calls to create a financial fund to compensate countries most vulnerable to climate change, countries meeting at the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) announced on the first day of COP28 the creation of a loss fund. and damage to repair the damage caused by the climate crisis. The creation of this mechanism was decided at the last 2022 COP in Egypt. 
The fund received voluntary donations from countries such as Japan, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and Germany, totaling US$420 million. Also, it will be hosted by the World Bank Governed by a council 26 members, 12 from developed countries and 14 from poor or developing countries.
“Financing will address the various challenges associated with the adverse effects of climate change, such as climate-related emergencies, sea-level rise, displacement, displacement, migration, insufficient climate information and data, and the need for reconstruction. Climate change resilience”, according to the document endorsed at COP28, Sustainable Development and Poverty Also mentions the possibility of financing eradication.
The move was early celebrated, but the lack of definition of who will finance the fund and how to access the money will still raise doubts about the policy’s effectiveness, experts interviewed said. Brassey AgencyL.
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For Stella Hershman, Deputy Coordinator for International Policy at the Climate Observatory, the Fund’s announcement is an important victory after a 30-year struggle to create an incentive mechanism for COP28. On the other hand, he thinks there is still doubt whether the World Bank will meet the demands of vulnerable countries and have the necessary resources to repair the damages caused by climate change.
“All developing countries can, in theory, access this funding, with a guaranteed minimum floor for the most vulnerable. But it’s not clear how the money will be delivered. There was some publicity.” [de recursos] It’s welcome, but it’s a small amount, not even what the fund needs, and it’s not clear who’s going to foot the bill,” he explained.
Environmentalist Natalie Ansterstel, president of the Talanoa Institute, a Brazilian organization working on climate policy, thinks it’s politically possible to create the fund within a 195-nation body. He says this is progress, although he recognizes that resources are still inadequate.
“It took 30 years of negotiations to accept the idea of having this type of compensation mechanism. This is important because these are small, affected countries. [pela crise climática] They are very poor and usually go into debt. “The idea is that this assistance will not burden their financial and budgetary situation,” he opined.
Ansterstel cited as an example the case of Tuvalu, a group of 11 islands in the Pacific Ocean that are at risk of disappearing as sea levels rise due to melting polar ice caps, as one of the consequences. Global warming. The country has even signed an agreement with Australia on its population migration.
World Bank
The announcement of funding creation on the first day of COP28 is a key signal from the conference, according to WWF-Brazil’s climate change expert Flavia Martinelli. However, he pointed out that there are concerns about the implementation of this fund by the World Bank.
“Developing countries, rich countries like the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom and Germany are partners in the World Bank so they want to create a more independent mechanism. So it is understandable that the World Bank is not completely independent in managing the funds. But the World Bank was chosen so that the negotiations could progress quickly and become operational.” Martinelli explained, recalling that the agreement provides for a review of the bank’s role within five years.
For the biologist Roberto Walk, Brazil, member of the Climate, Forests and Agriculture Alliance and head of the group of the Arabayu Institute, the fact that the mechanism is located at the World Bank should not be a problem for the effectiveness of the action.
“The World Bank has already, albeit indirectly, managed the majority of funding linked to climate change. It is natural that he is the main actor and manager of this funding, and I do not see that as a problem. It is a problem to avoid the proliferation of new financial agents working in this field, as long-standing institutions like the World Bank already exist.” He pointed out.
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