Almost 200 countries agreed to create a fund to help pay for reconstruction costs after climate-related disasters at the UN’s COP27 conference yesterday, capping off a summit that otherwise made little progress on key climate and energy issues.
Why it matters: The new “loss and damage fund” is a win for poorer countries that are often hit hardest by floods, droughts, and other disasters but have the least money to rebuild.
- The US decided to support the fund so long as it doesn’t create legal liability for rich countries to cover the costs of climate disasters. Canada and the European Union also backed it.
- A UN committee will now work out the details of how the fund will work, and the COP28 conference will have to approve the plan next year.
Yes, but: COP27 failed to produce an agreement to reduce the use of fossil fuels, something that a bloc of more than 80 countries had supported.
- A Saudi-led group of oil-producing nations (along with Russia) scuttled any proposals for cutting back oil and gas usage.
Zoom out: The energy crisis facing large parts of the world has strengthened the hand of oil and gas-producing countries at the negotiating table and made it more difficult to get consensus on reducing emissions.