HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.
![handle is hein.crs/goveknj0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Service
Informing the legislitive diebate since 1914
February 9, 2023
Loss and Damage Associated with the Effects of Climate
Change: Recent Developments
Repeated scientific assessments have concluded, with
increased confidence over time, that greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions associated with human activities have led to
rising global temperatures and other changes to the climate.
Small changes to the climate may bring benefits to some
entities and adverse effects to others. Ongoing climate
change would be increasingly adverse, and potentially
catastrophic, for a widening scope of populations and
ecosystems. Both slow onset changes (e.g., desertification)
and extreme events contribute to an array of losses and
damages.
Many low-income countries, especially small island states,
have long sought assistance and recourse through the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC, 1992) and its subsidiary Paris Agreement (PA,
2015) to cope with climate change-related loss and damage.
In the early 1990s, some negotiators of the UNFCCC
proposed means to address loss and damage that were not
adopted. Now, many Parties and stakeholders view
addressing loss and damage as the third pillar of climate
action, along with GHG mitigation and adaptation.
Loss and damage was first adopted in a negotiated
UNFCCC text at the 13th Conference of the Parties
(COP13) in 2007, in Bali, Indonesia. Negotiations on new
funding arrangements to address loss and damage began,
for the first time, in November 2022 at COP27 in Sharm el-
Sheikh, Egypt. While COP27 decided to establish new
funding arrangements and a fund, these items are largely
procedural: they call for a series of meetings and reports in
2023, with potential decisions among Parties to
operationalize both the new funding arrangements and the
fund expected at COP28 in November 2023. Many expect
delivery of funding shortly thereafter, if not before.
Decisions that Parties make under the PA may lead to
expectations that the U.S. government would pledge or
provide funding to address loss and damage. Members of
Congress may convey views to the executive branch about
the merits, scope, structure, eligible recipients and uses of
funds; criteria and priorities; and other choices that Parties
are to consider in 2023 and beyond. Views may concern
whether to authorize contributions to a fund or other means
of assistance and/or whether to appropriate funding.
Sharm eI-Sheikh: New Funding Arrangements
Established and, in That Context, a Fund
At COP27, the Parties agreed to put on the conference
agenda the issue of funding arrangements to address loss
and damage associated with the effects of climate change.
Developing countries-the large majority of Parties-had
insisted the meeting address the topic in order to proceed.
The Parties concluded two decisions with provisions
regarding loss and damage: (1) the Sharm el-Sheikh
Implementation Plan, and (2) a decision specifically
regarding funding arrangements for responding to loss and
damage. Among items in the latter, the Parties decided
to establish new funding arrangements for assisting
developing countries that are particularly
vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change,
in responding to loss and damage, including with a
focus on addressing loss and damage by providing
and assisting in mobilizing new and additional
resources, and that these new arrangements
complement and include sources, funds, processes
and initiatives under and outside the Convention
and the Paris Agreement; [and]
in the context of establishing the new funding
arrangements [ ... ], to establish a fund for
responding to loss and damage whose mandate
includes a focus on addressing loss and damage[.]
Two other initiatives were launched at COP27 to address
loss and damage, the Global Shield Against Climate Risks,
largely an insurance and capacity-building approach, and
the United Nations Secretary General's Early Warnings for
All, to extend early warning systems to all countries,
particularly in Africa.
Not Liability, Compensation, or Reparations
Despite portrayals by some stakeholders and media, the
language in the Sharm el-Sheikh decisions does not connote
new funding arrangements to be liability,
compensation, or reparations. The U.S. delegation and
others have consistently and successfully opposed inclusion
of these concepts in negotiated texts. In the PA, Article 8
concerns loss and damage and emphasizes cooperation
through the Warsaw Mechanism for Loss and Damage
Associated with Climate Change Impacts (WIM). The
Parties agreed in the corresponding 2015 decision to adopt
the PA that Article 8 of the [Paris] Agreement does not
involve or provide a basis for any liability or
compensation. In accordance, the language agreed in
Sharm el-Sheikh makes no reference to liability or
compensation.
While some stakeholders, including some governments,
continue to press for establishing compensation, liability, or](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.crs/goveknj0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)