Why climate-change ‘loss and damage’ will be a hot topic at COP27

Why climate-change ‘loss and damage’ will be a hot topic at COP27

BARCELONA - As large parts of the planet struggle with climate-inflicted woes, from floods in Pakistan to forest fires in the United States, the thorny issue of how to address "loss and damage" driven by global warming has risen up the political agenda.

Nine years ago, U.N. climate negotiators agreed to set up a formal mechanism to tackle loss and damage - but little concrete has emerged, beyond a donor-backed effort to boost insurance against weather disasters in developing countries.

With frontline nations like small islands being hit harder, they - backed by climate activists - are pushing for funding and other help to prevent and deal with loss and damage from worsening floods, droughts, storms, heat and rising sea levels.

At September's United Nations General Assembly, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres waded into the debate with a controversial proposal for rich governments to tax "windfall" profits by fossil fuel companies.

The money, he proposed, should be redirected to countries suffering loss and damage caused by climate change, as well as to people struggling with rising food and energy prices.

Here's why loss and damage is set to be a hot topic at November's COP27 U.N. climate change conference in Egypt:

What is climate change loss and