Loss and damage fund the high point of COP28 summit

The opening days of the United Nations climate talks (COP 28) in the UAE late last week stood out for two milestones – the historic launch of a loss and damage fund by nearly 200 nations and more than 130 countries agreeing to prioritise food and agriculture in their national climate plans. The landmark announcement of a fund to support countries hit by global warming, came as the Emirati host of the COP28 talks declared that fossil fuels must be part of any final climate deal negotiated at the conference over the next nine days.
The talks in Dubai come at a pivotal moment for the planet, with emissions still rising and the UN on Thursday declaring 2023 on track to become the hottest year in human history. The formal establishment of the “loss and damage” fund long sought by climate-vulnerable nations provided an early win at COP28, where sharp divisions over the phasing out of fossil fuels were immediately apparent. COP28 president Sultan al-Jaber said it was “the first time a decision has been adopted on day one of any COP and the speed in which we have done so is also unique, phenomenal and historic.
Leaders have been urged to move more quickly to a clean energy future and make deeper cuts to emissions, with the world off-track to keep global temperature rises below agreed levels. A central focus of COP28 will be a stocktake of the world’s limited progress on curbing global warming, which requires an official response at these talks. Climate finance has been a key sticking point at COP, with wealthy nations most responsible for emissions not delivering on promises to support the vulnerable states who are worst affected but least responsible for global warming. The UAE hopes to marshal an agreement on the tripling of renewable energy and doubling the annual rate of energy efficiency improvements by 2030. Nations will navigate a range of thorny issues until December 12, and experts say building trust could be a huge challenge.
Food systems are estimated to be responsible for roughly a third of human-made greenhouse gases, but are increasingly threatened by global warming and biodiversity loss. A total of 134 countries who produce 70% of the food eaten worldwide signed the declaration to prioritise food and agriculture in their national climate plans.
“There is no path to achieving the goals of the Paris climate agreement and keeping 1.5 degrees Celsius within reach that does not urgently address the interactions between food systems, agriculture and climate,” the UAE’s climate change minister Mariam Almheiri said.
The declaration said that countries will strengthen efforts to integrate food systems into their emissions-cutting plans. Nations would also pursue efforts to support farmers and other vulnerable food producers, including through increased funding, more infrastructure and developing early warning systems, it added.
It also emphasised the importance of restoring land, changing away from greenhouse-gas emitting agricultural practices and reducing food loss. The US, European Union, China and Brazil were among the countries to sign the declaration. The 134 nations are home to 5.7bn people and represent more than three quarters of all greenhouse gas emissions from the global food system — or 25% of total emissions worldwide, the COP28 statement said.
“This declaration is the moment when food truly comes of age in the climate process, sending a powerful signal to the nations of the world that we can only keep the 1.5 degree goal in sight if we act fast,” the US think-tank World Resources Institute’s CEO Ani Dasgupta added.