SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (AP) — “I’m proud I got to be here to witness this happen and contribute in a small way,” said Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, Climate Envoy of the Marshall Islands. “Worn out but so worth it to protect already disappearing islets, shorelines and culture. So many people all this week told us we wouldn’t get it. So glad they were wrong.”
But she added: “I wish we got fossil fuel phase out. The current text is not enough. But we’ve shown with the loss and damage fund that we can do the impossible. So we know we can come back next year and get rid of fossil fuels once and for all.”
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Martin Kaiser, the head of Greenpeace Germany, described the agreement on loss and damage as a “small plaster on a huge, gaping wound.”
“It’s a scandal that the Egyptian COP presidency gave petrostates such as Saudi Arabia space to torpedo effective climate protection. They have prevented a clear decision on the urgently needed phaseout of coal, oil and gas,” he said, adding that the meeting “carelessly risks adherence to the 1.5-degree limit.”
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Harjeet Singh of the environmental group Climate Action Network International said the new fund had effectively “sent a warning shot to polluters that they can no longer go scot-free with their climate destruction.”
“From now on, they will have to pay up for the damages they cause and are accountable to the people who are facing supercharged storms, devastating floods and rising seas,” he said.
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“In a historic breakthrough, wealthy nations have finally agreed to create a fund to aid vulnerable countries that are reeling from devastating climate damages,” said Ani Dasgupta, president of the environmental think tank World Resources Institute.
“This loss and damage fund will be a lifeline for poor families whose houses are destroyed, farmers whose fields are ruined, and islanders forced from their ancestral homes,” he said. “This positive outcome from COP27 is an important step toward rebuilding trust with vulnerable countries.”
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