The UN Development Programme welcomes the agreement reached at the COP27 climate negotiations today to establish a fund for developing countries to avert, minimize, and address loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change.

This represents a significant step forward in the global fight against the climate emergency.

Developing countries lead the world on climate ambition. Under the UN Development Programme’s Climate Promise 90 percent of developing countries have increased their mitigation ambition and 95% of them have increased their adaptation ambition.

Support for these countries, who contribute the least to global heating, but bear the brunt of its worst effects, has long been overdue.

In addition, developed countries must step up to the commitment they have made to provide US$100 billion dollars annually to poorer nations to finance climate action.

It is illogical to fund the irreversible consequences of climate change without significant investment in the adaptation and mitigation measures that developing countries need to address the underlying causes.

54 developing economies – 40 percent of all low- and middle-income countries – currently suffer severe debt problems, strongly limiting their ability to take decisive climate action and to invest in the global green economy.

There is no way around it, we need commitments to be met. We need financial investments without further delay to have the impact at the scale and speed that is needed.

A just transition to clean and sustainable sources of energy is critical if we are to reduce emissions and limit global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

In a few weeks, the global community will come together at the COP15 Biodiversity COP in Canada to forge an agreement to protect nature, which, like our climate, is in a state of emergency. The climate and nature crises are intimately bound – progress on one cannot be made without progress on the other. Between these two sets of negotiations, we are at a critical juncture where we make decisions that will have profound effects for decades and centuries to come.

The science on climate change is clear. We know the problem and we know the solutions. We have tools and the knowledge we need to protect our planet for future generations. We have a collective obligation to each other and to future generations, and we must not fail.

For more information or to request an interview, please contact:

dylan.lowthian@undp.org, tel. +1 646 6736350