Countries deadlocked on 'loss and damage' fund as UN climate summit nears

Countries are deadlocked over how to design a fund to help countries recover and rebuild from climate change-driven damage, with just over 30 days left before crucial United Nations climate negotiations kick off in Dubai.

Countries are deadlocked over how to design a fund to help countries recover and rebuild from climate change-driven damage, with just over 30 days left before crucial United Nations climate negotiations kick off in Dubai.

Two dozen countries involved in a committee tasked with designing a "loss and damage" fund wrapped up the last meeting in the early hours of Saturday in Aswan, Egypt, with developing and developed countries at odds over central questions: which entity should oversee the fund, who should pay and which countries would be eligible to receive funding.

The committee was expected to draft a list of recommendations for implementing the fund, which was agreed in a breakthrough last year at COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, and would be the first U.N. fund dedicated to addressing irreparable climate-driven damage from drought, floods and rising sea levels.

Instead, the group agreed to meet one more time in Abu Dhabi on Nov. 3 and Nov. 4 before the COP28 U.N. summit begins in Dubai on Nov. 30 to try to bridge divisions, which could set the tone for the two-week climate negotiations.

"The entire COP28 negotiations could get derailed if developing countries’ priorities on funding for loss and damage are not adequately addressed," said Preety Bhandari, a senior adviser on finance at the World Resources Institute.

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Among the most contentious issues last week was whether the World Bank should host the fund - a position pushed by the U.S. and developed countries - or whether the U.N. create a new body to run the fund, as developing countries have urged.