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COP27: Who will pay for climate ‘loss and damage’ fund?

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COP27: Who will pay for climate ‘loss and damage’ fund?

International locations conform to arrange a brand new fund however particulars are nonetheless to be labored out on who would contribute to the fund and who would profit.

The UN local weather summit agreed on Sunday to arrange a “loss and harm” fund to assist poorer international locations being ravaged by local weather impacts, overcoming many years of resistance from wealthy nations who contribute the majority of the world’s emissions.

Pakistan’s local weather minister Sherry Rehman, who was a part of the marketing campaign by creating nations to win the dedication on the two-week UN COP27 summit within the Egyptian resort metropolis of Sharm el-Sheikh, hailed the landmark choice as a “downpayment on local weather justice”.

However the textual content of the settlement leaves open various essential particulars to be labored out subsequent 12 months and past, together with who would contribute to the fund and who would profit.

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Right here’s what you’ll want to know concerning the settlement:

What’s ‘loss and harm’?

On the UN local weather talks, “loss and harm” refers to prices being incurred from climate-fuelled climate extremes or impacts, like rising sea ranges.

Local weather funding to this point has centered totally on slicing carbon dioxide emissions in an effort to curb international warming, whereas a couple of third of it has gone in the direction of initiatives to assist communities adapt to future impacts.

“Loss and harm” funding is totally different, particularly masking the price of harm that international locations can’t keep away from or adapt to.

However there is no such thing as a settlement but over what ought to depend as “loss and harm” attributable to local weather change, which might embody broken infrastructure and property, in addition to harder-to-value pure ecosystems or cultural property.

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A report by 55 weak international locations estimated their mixed climate-linked losses during the last 20 years totalled $525bn, or 20 p.c of their collective gross home product (GDP). Some analysis means that by 2030, such losses might attain $580bn per 12 months.

Ministers ship statements throughout the closing plenary on the COP27 local weather summit on the Pink Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on November 20, 2022 [File: Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters]

Who pays whom?

Weak international locations and campaigners up to now argued that wealthy international locations that brought about the majority of local weather change with their historic greenhouse fuel emissions ought to pay.

The US and European Union had resisted the argument, fearing spiralling liabilities, however modified their place throughout the COP27 summit. The EU has argued that China – the world’s second-largest economic system, however labeled by the UN as a creating nation – also needs to pay into it.

Just a few governments have made comparatively small however symbolic funding commitments for loss and harm: Denmark, Belgium, Germany and Scotland, in addition to the EU. China has not dedicated to any fee.

Some present UN and growth financial institution funding does assist states going through loss and harm, although it isn’t formally earmarked for that objective.

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Additionally remaining to be labored out are the main points on which international locations or disasters qualify for compensation.

What does the COP27 settlement say?

The fund agreed upon on the UN summit in Egypt will probably be aimed toward serving to creating international locations which are “significantly weak” to the results of local weather change, language chosen by the wealthier nations to make sure the cash goes to essentially the most pressing circumstances whereas additionally limiting the pool of potential recipients.

The deal lays out a roadmap for future decision-making, with suggestions to be made at subsequent 12 months’s UN local weather summit for selections together with who would oversee the fund, how the cash could be dispersed – and to whom.

The settlement requires the funds to return from quite a lot of present sources, together with monetary establishments, somewhat than counting on wealthy nations to pay up.

Some international locations have steered different present funds is also a supply of money, though some specialists say points like lengthy delays make these funds unsuitable for addressing loss and harm.

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Different concepts embody UN Secretary-Basic Antonio Guterres’s name for a windfall revenue tax on fossil gasoline firms to boost funding.

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Five convicted over Amsterdam clashes with Israeli football fans

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Five convicted over Amsterdam clashes with Israeli football fans

Men found guilty of crimes including kicking fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv and inciting violence in chat groups.

A Dutch court has convicted five men for their part in last month’s violence involving Israeli football fans in Amsterdam.

The Amsterdam district court on Tuesday found them guilty of a range of crimes from kicking fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv in the street to inciting violence in chat groups.

The heaviest sentence imposed was six months in prison, for a man identified as Sefa O for public violence against several people.

The violence took place on November 8 during two days of skirmishes in the city, where the Israeli football fans clashed with apparent pro-Palestinian protesters before and after a Europa League football match between their team Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax.

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Videos shared on social media at the time showed Israeli fans chanting racist, anti-Arab songs, vandalising a taxi and burning a Palestinian flag.

The fighting broke out after that and was instigated by the Israeli fans, witnesses and a local councilman told Al Jazeera at the time.

Police arrested people who had beaten the Israeli fans, as global leaders made accusations of anti-Semitism.

The prosecutor in the case said the beatings had “little to do with football” but added that “in this case, there was no evidence of … a terrorist intent and the violence was not motivated by anti-Semitic sentiment”.

“The violence was influenced by the situation in Gaza, not by anti-Semitism,” said the prosecutor.

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The most serious case under consideration by the court on Tuesday was Sefa, who prosecutors said played a “leading role” in the violence.

The court saw images of a man identified as Sefa kicking a person on the ground, chasing targets, and punching people in the head and the body.

Another man identified as Umutcan A, 24, received a sentence of one month for assaulting fans and ripping a Maccabi scarf from one of them.

A 22-year-old, identified as Abushabab M, faces a charge of attempted murder, but his case has been postponed while he undergoes a psychiatric assessment. He was born in the Gaza Strip and grew up in a war zone, his lawyer told the court, while Abushabab sat sobbing as his case was being heard.

A further six suspects are set to appear at a later stage. Three of these suspects are minors and their cases will be heard behind closed doors.

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Police said they were investigating at least 45 people over the violence, including that carried out by fans of the Israeli club.

At an emotionally charged news conference the morning after the riots, Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema said the city had been “deeply damaged” by “hateful anti-Semitic rioters”.

However, Halsema later said she regretted the parallel she had drawn between the violence and “memories of pogroms”, saying this word had been used as propaganda.

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Asia shares rise, dollar underpinned by elevated bond yields

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Asia shares rise, dollar underpinned by elevated bond yields
Asian stocks edged up on Tuesday, though moves were subdued in a holiday-curtailed week, while the greenback held near a two-year high helped by elevated U.S. Treasury yields as investors prepared for fewer Federal Reserve rate cuts in 2025.
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US military carries out airstrike in Syria, killing 2 ISIS operatives

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US military carries out airstrike in Syria, killing 2 ISIS operatives

The U.S. military conducted an airstrike on Monday in Syria, where they killed a pair of ISIS operatives and destroyed a truckload of weapons, according to U.S. Central Command.

A precision airstrike in the Dayr az Zawr Province, which was formerly controlled by the Syrian regime and Russians, killed two ISIS operatives and wounded another, CENTCOM said.

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The U.S. military conducted an airstrike on Monday in Syria, where they killed a pair of ISIS operatives and destroyed a truckload of weapons. (Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

The operatives were driving a truckload of weapons, which was destroyed, when they were targeted in the strike.

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BIDEN ADMIN LIFTS $10M BOUNTY ON THE HEAD OF LEADER OF ISLAMIST GROUP NOW IN CHARGE OF SYRIA

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CENTCOM forces conducted a precision airstrike in the Dayr az Zawr Province in Syria. (AP Photo)

“This airstrike is part of CENTCOM’s ongoing commitment, along with partners in the region, to disrupt and degrade efforts by terrorists to plan, organize, and conduct attacks against civilians and military personnel from the U.S., our allies, and our partners throughout the region and beyond,” CENTCOM said in a statement.

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