Joy, relief at ‘historic’ climate damages deal

Joy, relief at ‘historic’ climate damages deal

Vulnerable nations least responsible for planet-heating emissions have been battling for three decades to get wealthy polluters to pay for climate damages.

Their final push took barely two weeks.

The "loss and damage" inflicted by climate-induced disasters was not even officially up for discussion when UN talks in Egypt began.

But a concerted effort among developing countries to make it the defining issue of the conference melted the resistance of wealthy polluters long fearful of open-ended liability, and gathered unstoppable momentum as the talks progressed.

In the end a decision to create a loss and damage fund was the first item confirmed on Sunday morning after fraught negotiations went overnight with nations clashing over a range of issues around curbing planet-heating emissions.

"At the beginning of these talks loss and damage was not even on the agenda and now we are making history," said Mohamed Adow, executive director of Power Shift Africa.

"It just shows that this UN process can achieve results, and that the world can recognise the plight of the vulnerable must not be treated as a political football."

Loss and damage covers a broad sweep of climate impacts, from bridges and homes washed away in flash flooding, to the threatened disappearance of cultures