COP27 Side Event: Dealing with Losses and Damages

Onsite event in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt

10 November 2022 13:15 – 14:45 EET (UTC+2) Room: TUTANKHAMUN

Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties, the live streaming of our side event was cancelled. Please accept our sincere apologies.

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Helvetas side event at COP27

Date: 10 November 2022
Time: 13:15 – 14:45 Cairo Time (UTC+2)
Onsite location: Tutankhamun (new location!)

Dealing with Losses and Damages: Field Experiences and Lessons for a Global Mechanism

Averting, minimizing and addressing the loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change and supporting vulnerable and poor countries to achieve compensation or reparation is a discussion that is making little progress. Efforts to mobilize funds and establish a proper finance mechanism have not yet fully paid off. Further negotiation at COP27 is critically important for the effective implementation of the Paris Agreement and to ensure justice for the poor and vulnerable countries that are increasingly being affected by the impacts of climate change.

The issue of Loss and Damage (L&D) has been and remains a highly contentious issue in climate negotiations. It has a long history, and was first raised by the Alliance of Small Island States in 1991. Since then, the concept has progressively been institutionalized, in particular through the Warsaw International Mechanism at COP19, and then anchored in Article 8 in the Paris Agreement in 2015.

Climate justice demands that countries and people least responsible for climate change must not bear the burden of losses and damages and a financial mechanism for L&D is established on polluter pays principles.

This side event contributes to this important topic with experiences from three continents and from the perspectives of communities, governments, private philanthropy and academia. The experiences will highlight current approaches to deal with losses and damages using different instruments, including innovative finance mechanisms supported and piloted by philanthropic donors, and will address the scale of the challenge and the imperatives for a L&D global mechanism.