5 months ago
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Today, at the end of the first day of the 2023 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28), the United States announced their pledge to the Loss and Damage Fund of $17.5 million. Some news outlets report a commitment of 24.5 million. The Loss and Damage Fund was created at last year’s conference of parties to ensure frontline countries bearing the brunt of environmental devastation due to climate change, are compensated for past, present, and future impacts to their economies, communities, and ecological systems.
In response to this news, Bineshi Albert, co-Executive Director of Climate Justice Alliance, released this statement:
“The amount pledged by the United States is insulting. It is a paltry, shameful amount of money that shows the US is completely uninterested in prioritizing or being accountable to the climate impacts frontline communities are facing. By comparison, Island Nations have requested at least $100 billion over the first four years. Furthermore, the United States refuses to acknowledge historic responsibility for the decades of damage that has been done to communities bearing the brunt of climate change and the fossil fuel industry."This amount is not only ineffective to address these harms and injustices but it is minuscule compared to the hundreds of billions in loan, grants, and tax breaks available from the Inflation Reduction Act to corporations to further build out or prolong the life of fossil fuel infrastructure and energy intensive fuels like hydrogen. This pledge is also a drop in the bucket compared to the ANNUAL $20.5 billion in fossil fuel subsidies handed out by the US government, which recently surged to $7 trillion in 2022.
"Additionally, we understand the United States government, in its negotiations, pushed for these contributions to be “voluntary.” This is another clear sign that the United States does not take responsibility for its harmful past actions nor does it consider the needs of the most impacted and marginalized communities seriously.”
Climate Justice Alliance is part of the “It Takes Roots Alliance” delegation of North American frontline groups attending COP28 in Dubai to demand that community solutions, climate reparations, and human rights be central to the global climate commitments made at COP28.
