Cairo, 12 September 2022 (TDI): On 10-11 September, the incoming Egyptian COP27 Presidency hosted a closed Heads of Delegations HoDs Informal consultations. The agenda of the meeting was to gather the significant regional groups and negotiate blocs on Loss and Damage.

The consultations aimed at promoting consensus and bringing the parties closer ahead of Cop27. Issues discussed were funding arrangements for loss and damage, Santiago Network, and the status of Loss and Damage at the climate process.

The objective of the HoDs meeting was to support further progress
with the aim of reaching a consensus around the UNFCCC Loss and Damage agenda.

Loss and Damage Discussions

Climate Change and Global warming are reaching heights where it can be impossible to keep things in control. This is because in some cases no adaptive actions are possible. While in other cases options may exist but are not available due to a broad range of factors including financial, governance, social, cultural, and biological constraints.

By 2030, the annual costs of loss and damage are estimated to range from $290bn to $580bn in developing countries alone. By 2050 this is estimated to be between $1 to $1.8 trillion. In addition to that, the scale of the impacts of extreme weather events is only growing.

Hong Thuy Paterson, Chief Financial Officer Green Climate Fund Secretariat, and Mahamat Assouyouti, Senior Climate Change Specialist Adaptation Fund Secretariat gave a presentation on Finance’s Current status.

They discussed on how Loss and Damage are currently supported under the UNFCCC, obvious needs, gaps, and lessons learned for the Loss and Damage negotiations.

Moreover, Heidi White, Lead Santiago Network Project, Loss and Damage Collaboration gave a presentation on t the overall status of negotiations about the Santiago Network.