The costs of climate-related disasters are growing and the poorest countries are bearing the brunt of impacts, from the unprecedented floods in Pakistan to the expanding famine in Somalia. Natural disasters in 2022 alone cost the global economy an estimated US$227 billion.
Such disasters are driving calls at the COP27 climate summit this week for rich countries to pay for the “loss and damage” poorer countries have suffered (and continue to) because of climate change.
Loss and damage finance would help developing countries recover from climate change fuelled disasters and economic losses, and could extend to non-economic losses such as cultural destruction, displacement and health impacts. But this type of funding has long been a sticking point at global climate change negotiations.
