China, India Face Peer Pressure to Help Fund Loss and Damage

Antony Sguazzin and Akshat Rathi
·3 min read
14

(Bloomberg) -- China and India, two of the world’s three biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, are under increasing pressure from developing nations to commit that they will contribute to a facility aimed at compensating the world’s poorest nations for climate-related disasters.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Mauritius, Jamaica and Ghana are among developing countries that want the pool of potential funders for the loss and damage facility that’s being discussed at the COP27 climate summit in Egypt to be widened beyond the Western industrialized nations that have traditionally been held responsible for global warming.

The calls are a marked departure from the solidarity that’s in the past seen China and India stand alongside the world’s poorest nations in demanding climate finance from the US and Western Europe. They also mark a schism within the ranks of least developed countries, small island states and some middle income nations, whose economies and politics are closely tied to the Asian economic powerhouses.

“It’s about the quantum of emissions, if you are a developing country and you emit so much then why not,” said Henry Kokofu, the head of Ghana’s Environmental Protection Agency and special envoy of the Ghana Presidency of the Climate Vulnerable Forum, which represents 58 nations with a combined population of 1.5 billion people. “We are looking at heavy emitters.”

China emits 11.5 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent annually, while India produces 2.7 billion tons, according to the Global Carbon Project. Still, the US emits 5 billion tons and industrialized nations are responsible for the bulk of the historical emissions that are cumulatively responsible for heating up the planet today. However, China’s rapid coal-driven development has already made it the second-largest historical emitter.

Kokofu’s position aligns with Matthew Samuda, a Jamaican minister and head of the island nation’s COP27 delegation, who said “those who emit should contribute,” and Mauritian Environment Minister, Kavydass Ramano, who wants “all the big emitters” to provide funds.

Still, other representatives of those nations pushing for the loss and damage facility, which last week was added to the COP agenda for the first time after decades of debate, are more tempered in their approach to China and India.

Seyni Nafo, the head of Mali’s delegation, and Seth Osafo, legal adviser to the African Group of Negotiators, called for voluntary contributions from the two Asian nations.

Barbara Creecy, South Africa’s environment minister, was adamant that as developing countries India and China do not need to be compelled to contribute. South Africa is part of the BRICS economic alliance with the two nations, Brazil and Russia and is heavily dependent on China as an export market.

Divisions between poor nations over loss and damage extend beyond who should contribute to any fund. Creecy wants immediate help for those hit by climate disasters and and Samuda says there’s talk of an intermediary fund to deal with financial help for crises such as the floods in Pakistan or the hurricanes in the Caribbean.

In response, a spokesperson for India’s delegation at COP27 said mandatory contributions to loss and damage should not apply to their country as its share of historical cumulative emissions from the pre-industrial period until 2019 are less than 4%.

Spokespeople for China did not immediately respond to a request for comment. However, previous remarks for the country’s climate envoy Xie Zhenhua pushed for historical responsibility to be accounted for in loss and damage funding calculations.

--With assistance from Alfred Cang.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.