COP28 - 1 December 2023

World Climate Action Summit Day 1 & and Loss & Damage

Today and tomorrow: 1st and 2nd December, the COP28 gathering is dedicated to The World Climate Action Summit. This two-day pre-COP28 event brings together heads of state and government, alongside leaders from civil society, business, youth, Indigenous Peoples' organisations, frontline communities, science and other sectors to discuss concrete actions and plans aimed at scaling climate action. The summit serves as an important platform for major announcements and is intended to provide momentum and guidance to the remainder of the COP.

These two days are obviously pivotal to the whole of COP28. Certainly we will pray for them. We would like to add two additional topics for prayer: the: “Loss and Damage fund” for today, and “Water” for tomorrow.

The Loss and Damages Fund was the main innovation of COP27, it emerged on the final day. It acknowledges that vulnerable countries and communities of the Global South are already facing severe (expensive) problems caused by climate change, and urgently need funds to help mitigate these, as well as to build up more resilient infrastructure. This is very much a justice issue. Wealthy countries and companies ought to help pay for the expensive work that is needed in vulnerable parts of the world, to repair the damage, cover losses and build up resilience in the face of climate change

A short prayer

We confess our involvement in selfish choices and sinful behaviours which damage God’s creation. We commit ourselves, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to repent, to lament and to renew our vocation to serve and conserve God’s creation, living in it and using it responsibly and sustainably. (from A'Rocha )

A longer prayer

Lord God we thank you for the voices of the ancient prophets like Amos and Micah, who called for justice. We thank you for modern-day prophetic voices like that of Christian Aid, calling for justice. We thank you that when we raise our own voices we are not alone. We thank you that the prayers of those calling for a Loss and Damage fund have been answered. Now we pray that the fund would be well supported, and successful, giving real help to those who need it.

Lord, we have seen the droughts and we have prayed for rain. We have seen the floods and we have prayed that the rains relent.

We have seen the storm, the hurricane and the typhoon, and we have prayed for mercy.

Now we have seen the truth – we pray for justice.

Now we understand that the climate crisis is driven by human action.

Now we see that the rich have profited and the poor stand to pay the highest price.

We pray for justice for our sisters and brothers. We pray for the nations and corporations that have done most to drive this climate chaos.

We pray that you will move their hearts and inspire their actions; that they would meet in full their obligations to the Loss and Damage fund.

And we pray for ourselves; that our prayers would not cease, nor our cries of outrage fall silent until justice rolls on like a river, and righteousness like a never-failing stream!

Amen (Adapted from prayers by Christian Aid).

Lord, we thank you for the technologists, business people and philanthropists who will be applying their brains and capital to the pursuit of remedies for climate change today and tomorrow. Please inspire them through your Holy Spirit with mercy, humility, compassion, imagination and courage.

From the Bible

Luke 10: 1-10

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.

When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.

All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”

But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”

Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Micah 6: 6-8

With what shall I come before the LORD and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

Amos 5:24

But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream.

Issues

Activists, like Christian Aid, have been campaigning for a number of years for a ‘Loss and Damage’ fund, sometimes also called ‘Climate Reparations’ or ‘Make Polluters Pay’. This addresses one of the basic injustices of climate change: “Rich nations and big corporations have emitted the lion’s share of all the greenhouse gas pollution in the atmosphere, but the poorest countries stand to pay the highest price for it. Less than 4% of all the carbon dioxide pumped into the atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution has come from the African continent. Yet polluters continue to burn fossil fuels, to profit from the poison they produce, and turn their backs on the damage already done” (Christian Aid).
On the final day of COP27 last year, the delegates signed an agreement to set up a Loss and Damages fund. This is excellent news, and a testimony to the power of prayer and campaigning.
There are controversies involving the Loss and Damages fund. For example a coalition of countries in the global north is insisting that the World Bank hosts the loss and damage fund. Global south countries are strongly opposing this move. The World Bank gives out most of its funding via loans, rather than grants. But loss and damage must be given as grants if it is to serve its purpose.

If we consider Zambia - it’s a climate vulnerable country, already experiencing flooding, extreme temperatures and droughts. This decade, Zambia’s government is set to spend four times as much on repaying debt as it does on climate adaptation. Loss and damage only serves climate justice if it doesn’t saddle countries like Zambia with more debt. Another concern is that countries of the Global North would like to limit access to the fund to what are known internationally as the 34 'Least Developed Countries'. This would see many countries robbed of compensation they ought to have.

Pakistan, for example, would receive no Loss and Damage funding if that were the case. Pakistan contributes less than 1% of annual global emissions causing the climate crisis. Last year, it battled devastating floods which submerged swathes of its land, and are set to cost the country over £30 billion.

So far private companies have not been made to contribute to the Loss and Damages fund. There is a widespread feeling that banks, which have profited from investing in fossil fuel companies, and the fossil fuel companies themselves, who have also posted huge profits, should pay into the fund. (Adapted from text by Global Justice Now).

In September this year former Prime Minister Gordon Brown took this thought further. He pointed out that those nation states with large oil and gas exports have made huge profits in recent years, which can be seen as ‘windfall’. He suggested a 3% levy on these trades. This would raise an estimated $25 billion per year, which could be used to help low income countries adapt to climate change.

Hope

COP28: Poor countries win 30-year fight for climate cash (BBC 30.11.23)
Loss and-Damage Fund
The UN FCCC’s Santiago Network has been set up to help vulnerable countries and communities access the technical assistance they need for mitigating loss and damage

COP28 discussions

Today and tomorrow the summit will host the following events:

The Technology and Innovation Hub
The Business & Philanthropy Climate Forum
The Climate Innovation Forum at COP

Find out more

Christian Aid recorded this explanatory video at the launch of their own ‘Loss and Damages’ campaign: Loss and Damage
A powerful video from the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF) showing how we have already not done enough in terms of mitigating climate change, now it is a matter of climate adaptation for vulnerable communities such as these in Malawi
Global Justice Now campaigns: for reform of Loss and Damages fund administration