Pakistan has applauded the ratification of its proposal for a financial scheme to assist countries affected by climate change cope with mounting losses by the COP27 meeting in 2022, according to Pakistani official media on Monday.
According to the state-run Radio Pakistan broadcaster, climate negotiators decided to begin negotiations on “Matters Related to Financial Arrangements for Loss and Damage” on Sunday during the summit’s opening session.
The decision to include financing to repair “loss and damage” on the negotiation agenda was made in response to persistent pressure from Pakistan, which was affected by summer floods that submerged a third of the nation.
On behalf of the Group of 77 and China, Islamabad had submitted the topic on the agenda at the intersessional meeting in Bonn, Germany, in June.
According to Radio Pakistan, “it envisions compensating developing countries for rising damage connected to climate change.”
“Among the eight extra agenda items that were suggested by various parties, only the one on “loss and damage” was unanimously accepted. Due to a lack of agreement, the rest were all abandoned.
This, according to Pakistan’s ambassador to the UN, Munir Akram, is a realisation that nations facing natural calamities brought on by climate change, like Pakistan, shouldn’t be left to fend for themselves.
More than 1,700 people were murdered and 33 million were affected by unprecedented floods in Pakistan this year, which were attributed to climate change and cost the South Asian nation more than $30 billion in damages.
According to Pakistan’s foreign ministry, Shehbaz Sharif, the prime minister of Pakistan, arrived in Egypt on Sunday to attend the COP27 meeting and push for “climate justice” for the South Asian country.
After a year of severe weather disasters that prompted calls for affluent industrialised nations to compensate impoverished countries, the summit began on Sunday in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
President Abdul Fattah El-Sisi of Egypt invited Sharif to co-chair COP27 last month after he launched an international campaign to raise awareness about climate change in the wake of climate-related floods that claimed the lives of more than 1,700 people, impacted 33 million people, and caused his nation to suffer damages totaling more than $30 billion.
A “watershed in humanity’s struggle against climate change & global warming,” according to Sharif, was achieved at the meeting in Egypt.
Before leaving Islamabad, he wrote on Twitter, “Extreme climatic occurrences in Pakistan & the Horn of Africa this year have exposed the globalisation of climate change.”
“It will be illegal to turn a blind eye to its fatal effects.”
UN climate chief Simon Stiell warned that as catastrophic impacts grow, it was now too late to put off taking decisive action to address emissions and climate threats that had been put off for decades.
Climate change is the most serious and significant challenge there is, he remarked.
“Wars, inflation, rising living expenses, and energy difficulties will all end. But from what we can see, climate change is already a problem and will only get worse.
Richer governments are expected to provide financial support for a “Global Shield” at COP27 that would expand insurance coverage and early warning systems for developing nations.
These governments’ large historical emissions have been the primary driver of climate impacts.
Certain wealthy nations, such as the United States, countries in the European Union, and Australia, have thus far opposed the establishment of a loss and damage fund out of concern that they may be held liable for damages in the trillions of euros.
According to Harjeet Singh, head of global political strategy for Climate Action Network. An international coalition of environmental organisations, there is fertile ground for additional potential sources of loss and damage funding.
Between liability payments and straightforward government contributions to boost insurance and early warning systems.
For example, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres has urged countries worldwide to levy a tax on the unforeseen gains of fossil fuel energy companies.
They have recorded record quarterly earnings as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent spike in oil and gas prices.
