{"id":18328,"date":"2019-12-11T01:49:32","date_gmt":"2019-12-11T06:49:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/?p=18328"},"modified":"2019-12-29T10:09:25","modified_gmt":"2019-12-29T15:09:25","slug":"the-u-s-is-trying-to-get-out-of-paying-climate-damages-to-poor-countries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/?p=18328","title":{"rendered":"The U.S. is trying to get out of paying climate damages to poor countries"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .<\/p>\n

A blog by Emily Atkin at Heated World<\/a><\/p>\n

Activists say the Paris agreement will be “on the verge of collapse” if rich countries don’t commit to paying poor countries for devastating climate-related losses.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nThis is what climate activist Greta Thunberg said . . . <\/a><\/center><\/p>\n

After\u00a0a three week catamaran journey\u00a0<\/a> across the Atlantic Ocean\u2014and a train ride from Portugal\u2014famed youth climate activist Greta Thunberg arrived in Madrid, Spain on Friday for the United Nations climate change conference known as COP25: the last time nations will come together before the Paris climate agreement is officially implemented in 2020.<\/p>\n

Thunberg\u2019s immediate message was one of frustration and urgency.<\/p>\n

“We have been striking for over a year, and basically nothing has happened,” she\u00a0told activists\u00a0shortly after her arrival, and shortly before\u00a0leading a march of 500,000 people\u00a0<\/a> through Madrid. “The climate crisis is still being ignored by those in power, and we cannot go on like this.”<\/p>\n

There are people who will take Thunberg\u2019s statement as a knock on her own activist movement. But those people willingly misinterpret her intention. Clearly, Thunberg is not saying that the climate strikes haven\u2019t changed public opinion and understanding about climate change.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s saying that, despite a sea change in public opinion and understanding about the climate crisis, no one with any true power to change the global emissions trajectory has yet done anything about it. She\u2019s saying that no one with any true power at the U.N. climate talks seems to understand the urgency of this crisis.<\/p>\n

And she\u2019s right. As an example, just look at what the United States is doing at COP25.<\/p>\n

A proposal to avoid paying for climate impacts on the vulnerable<\/strong><\/p>\n

Last night, a source at the U.N. climate talks sent HEATED a photograph of a proposal being floated by the Trump administration\u2019s diplomatic team. The proposal surrounds the problem of \u201closs and damage,\u201d\u00a0which refers to the\u00a0\u201cunavoidable and irreversible impacts of climate change, where mitigation has failed, and adaptation is not possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sharing the photograph directly because it contains identifying information about the person who shared it, which would put that person\u2019s job at risk. But here\u2019s what the U.S. proposal on loss and damage says\u2014and fair warning, to anyone who isn\u2019t intricately involved with international climate politics, it reads like complete gibberish:<\/p>\n

The decision package from the WIM to serve the COP in addition to the CMA could have the following components:<\/p>\n

1. Serves both the CMA and COP as a single-consulted body with a single agenda, in accordance with past COP decisions\/Paris Agreement
\n\u2028
\n2. The agreement in paragraph 51 of 1\/CP.21 on liability and compensation apples to work of the WIM serving the CMA and the COP
\n\u2028
\n3. All Parties to the Convention (including those that are not Parties to Paris) and eligible to serve on the Excom
\n\u2028
\n4. Annual report by the Excom to the COP and CMA considered jointly by the SBI and SBSTA in a single joint contact group\u2028<\/em><\/p>\n

Fortunately, Harjeet Singh helped translate the document into real person words. Singh is the global lead on climate change for ActionAid, and has been following the U.N. negotiations about how to deal with climate loss and damage for a decade.<\/p>\n

With this proposal, Singh said, \u201cThe U.S. is now attempting to add further protections for itself and fossil fuel companies against liability claims into the complex web of international climate legislation.\u201d<\/p>\n

And if this proposal is adopted at COP25 this week, Singh said, \u201cthe countries least responsible for the crisis, but are suffering the most, could stand even less chance of receiving financial support to recover from the devastating impacts of increasingly frequent and severe droughts, flooding and sea level rise.\u201d<\/p>\n

How in the world is that what the proposal says?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The U.S. proposal surrounds the WIM\u2014that is, the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage. This mechanism was established by the U.N. in 2013, so that rich countries that are most responsible for the climate crisis could help financially support poorer countries already experiencing climate disasters, since those countries hold far less responsibility for the crisis.<\/p>\n

(article continued in right column)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Question for this article:<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n

\n

Sustainable Development Summits of States, What are the results?<\/a><\/p>\n

Despite the vested interests of companies and governments, Can we make progress toward sustainable development?<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

(Article continued from the left column)<\/p>\n

The WIM sounds pretty cool, but there\u2019s always been a problem with it.\u00a0The WIM has never had a finance mechanism<\/a> \u2014meaning, there\u2019s been no way for rich countries like the U.S. to actually pay into it, because it doesn\u2019t say how much countries like the U.S.\u00a0should\u00a0compensate countries for the impacts of global warming.<\/p>\n

So that\u2019s one thing countries are trying to figure out at the U.N. climate talks this week: How to fix the WIM so that the most vulnerable people on the planet don\u2019t have to pay for billions\u2014or more likely,\u00a0trillions\u2014in climate damages they didn\u2019t cause.<\/p>\n

The U.S.\u2019s proposal, however, doesn\u2019t attempt to add a financing mechanism to the WIM. Instead, Singh said, \u201cThe U.S. is using the opportunity to make changes to the way the WIM is governed, to cover its own back and keep developing countries hit by climate disasters mired in debt and poverty.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is making climate justice activists\u2014not to mention people from actual developing countries\u2014very mad.<\/p>\n

At a press conference at the U.N. on Monday morning, Singh didn\u2019t cite the U.S. proposal explicitly, but warned that wealthy countries were trying to get out of creating a financing mechanism for the WIM, and therefore avoid the obligation for paying poor countries for the damage they caused.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf rich countries do not allow this architecture to be created … the Paris agreement is on the verge of collapse before it properly begins next year,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

An unsurprising development<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not particularly surprising that the United States government would try to avoid financial responsibility for other countries\u2019 climate damages\u2014nor is the attempt unique to the Trump administration, said Taylor Billings, the press secretary for\u00a0Corporate Accountability<\/a>, a group that launches global campaigns on holding fossil fuel companies and other corporations accountable for climate change.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe U.S. is always trying to get out of its historical responsibility for climate change,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Indeed, as the New York Times\u00a0reported last year,\u00a0industrialized nations including the U.S. have routinely failed on their promises to help poor countries deal with devastating climate effects.<\/p>\n

In 2009, they pledged to mobilize $100 billion a year by 2020 for that purpose. But that money \u201chas been slow to materialize,\u201d the Times reported, \u201cwith only\u00a0$3.5 billion actually committed\u00a0<\/a> out of $10.3 billion pledged to\u00a0a prominent United Nations program\u00a0<\/a> called the Green Climate Fund.\u201d Both Obama and Trump failed to fulfill pledges, the Times reported\u2014though Trump has been much worse. Not only is he attempting to withdraw the United States from the Paris agreement; last year, he straight-up canceled $2 billion in promised climate aid to poor countries.<\/p>\n

With this new proposal, Billings said, \u201cThe U.S. is trying to torch the Paris agreement on its way out.\u201d Justice for poor and developing nations \u201cis the core of what the Paris agreement should do,\u201d she said. \u201cIf the U.S. gets its way, that won\u2019t happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

The week ahead<\/strong><\/p>\n

Whether the U.S. proposal on loss and damage will be adopted is anyone\u2019s guess. Obviously, it\u2019s in developed countries\u2019 interest to avoid creating a financing mechanism for the WIM\u2014but developing countries will depend on that mechanism for their survival. Meetings on proposals like this tend to be closed to press, so the outcome will likely depend on whether representatives from developing countries push back strongly enough.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, activists like Thunberg are trying to direct some media attention away from themselves and toward those countries currently experiencing unjust loss and damage from the climate crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have noticed there is some media attention,\u201d Thunberg said at a press conference at the U.N. this morning. \u201cAnd we thought it is our moral duty to use that media attention .. .to lend our voices to those who need to tell their stories.<\/p>\n

We are privileged, and our stories have been told many times over and over again. It is not our stories that need to be told and listened to.<\/p>\n

It is the others, especially from the Global South and Indigenous communities who need to tell their stories. Because the climate emergency is not just something that will impact us in the future. It is not something that will have an impact on children living today when they grow up. It is already affecting countless people today. People are suffering and dying from it today.<\/p>\n

So that\u2019s why we\u2019ve created this event, to hope it will be some kind of platform to share the stories that need to be shared.<\/p>\n

Six justice activists shared their stories at the press conference. You can listen to them all by clicking\u00a0HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . . A blog by Emily Atkin at Heated World Activists say the Paris agreement will be “on the verge of collapse” if rich countries don’t commit to paying poor countries for devastating climate-related losses. This is what climate activist Greta Thunberg said . . . After\u00a0a three week catamaran journey\u00a0 … Continue reading The U.S. is trying to get out of paying climate damages to poor countries<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76,10],"tags":[11],"class_list":["post-18328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-global","category-sustainable","tag-global"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18328\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}