Category: Loss And Damage

The COP that No-One Likes

It is normal for countries to leave the COP disgruntled but resigned to the outcome, with wins and losses for everyone. But this year’s finance COP left a deeply bitter taste in the mouth for developing countries, with Nigeria calling the US$300 billion finance target a joke, and more questions than answers about whether to disband the COP process entirely. But there were some wins on trade, adaptation and carbon markets within the morass of despair on finance. In our roundup we look back and discuss the key issues and outcomes.
  • Adaptation, Article 6, COP29, Loss And Damage, Trade

Your Guide to COP29: A Tamer but Still Tumultuous Affair

African countries are going to COP with a long menu of agenda items to address: the new finance target (NCQG), revised NDCs, adaptation, mitigation and just transitions, loss and damage, and trade. In this explainer we discuss the key issues, points of contention, and some of the African positions ahead of the COP.
  • Adaptation, Article 6, COP29, Loss And Damage, NetZero and the Just Transition, Trade

Loss and Damage Finance: Youth-led COP29 Expectations and Demands

Lamis Elkhatieb from the Loss and Damage Youth Coalition writes on the group’s expectations for COP29 on loss and damage finance, and the operationalisation of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage.
  • Loss And Damage

Water Insurance Rescues Climate Troubled Communities

Loss and damage discussions have continuously pointed to the need for insurance to fill the gap. Water insurance is becoming an increasingly popular mechanism in Africa, but does it have the enabling environment and financial backing to operate at scale?
  • African Climate Policy, Loss And Damage

No Consensus in the IPCC for a Loss and Damage Assessment or When it will Finalise its Next Major Reports

Last month, countries could not agree on whether to accelerate the pre-2028 delivery dates for the IPCC’s upcoming reports on the latest climate science. African countries will, however, welcome the decision to update the IPCC’s technical adaptation guideline, however the decision to not provide a special report on loss and damage will only frustrate efforts to progress loss and damage finance.
  • Loss And Damage

Loss and Damage Fund Recommendations Finalised

In a bittersweet victory, the Transitional Committee has finally arrived at a set of recommendations on the design of the Loss and Damage Fund ahead of COP28. It, however, entails hosting it at the World Bank and developed countries have no obligation to financially contribute. The US has also refused to approve it. Negotiators at the COP will now need to deliberate on whether to adopt the proposal.
  • COP28, Loss And Damage

Where are we on the Loss and Damage Fund?

Slow but important progress on the design elements of a loss and damage fund is being made. Developing country positions are unified and clear, however we still need agreement on where the fund will sit, what it funds, who contributes and who benefits.
  • COP28, Loss And Damage

Who Will Pay? Wheels start to turn within the ICJ and Loss and Damage Transitional Committee

Both the ICJ and the Loss and Damage Transitional Committee will have to answer who will pay for climate change loss and damage.
  • Loss And Damage

Transitional Loss and Damage Fund Committee Finally Established

The Loss and Damage transitional committee tasked with operationalising the new fund has finally been established. They will make recommendations on the design of the fund and in doing so will have to deal with contentious debates around who contributes, who benefits and where the fund will sit within the broader regime.
  • Loss And Damage

Vanuatu publishes a Draft Resolution requesting an ICJ Opinion on Climate Legal Liability

Vanuatu, as part of a coalition of 18 states, has recently made available and intends to commence negotiations on a draft United Nations General Assembly resolution that requests an International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion on climate change legal liability. In our analysis, we discuss some of the legal considerations around the draft text and speculate on what it might mean for loss and damage.
  • Loss And Damage

African Climate Wire is an initiative of Climate Legal, a climate change law and policy specialist consultancy, based in South Africa and operating across the continent.

Our independent reporting is made possible with the generous support of the African Climate Foundation. Our opinions, findings, interpretations and conclusions remain our own, and do not in any way represent those of the African Climate Foundation.

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