The world’s agreement to establish a “loss and damage” fund at the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference, was the standout breakthrough of the grueling two-week negotiations earlier this month in Egypt. Prior to the talks, the agreement was far from guaranteed: Loss and damage had been a greatly contentious political issue for many years, with high-income nations reluctant to acknowledge the implications of their historic responsibility for climate change.
But while the agreement has closed one chapter of an international disagreement, the need to make loss and damage funding a reality has opened a new one, which has the potential to scar climate negotiations for years to come.
“The Fund allows developing countries to have a foot in the door. So in that sense, it is important not to underplay this win,” said Faten Aggad, senior adviser on climate diplomacy and geopolitics at the African Climate Foundation. “No negotiation is a zero-sum game and often it is small wins … to build the negotiations on. So it matters.”