Countries clinch loss and damage fund agreement despite US opposition

Negotiators have reached an agreement on how to operate a new fund to help vulnerable nations recover from climate disasters. But the United States, the world’s largest historical emitter of carbon emissions, has refused to support the framework.

After two additional days of difficult negotiations in the United Arab Emirates, the 24-member committee tasked with hammering out details for a loss and damage fund agreed to a take-it-or-leave-it outcome moments before the meeting was due to close on Saturday evening.

The committee recommended that the fund be hosted by the World Bank — a previous red line for developing countries — for an interim four-year period if the bank is willing and able to meet a set of conditions on the fund’s governance.