Climate Summit Yields ‘Climate Justice” Fund for Poor Nations

Leaders from around the world struck a deal in the final hours of a United Nations (UN) summit. They agreed to create a fund that would help poor nations hit by natural disasters caused by climate change.

Major nations closed the COP27 meeting without dealing with the cause of those disasters. That is Earth’s rising temperature due to the burning of fossil fuels. 

Leaders agreed to start a so-called loss and damage fund. The US supported it at the last-minute. The US and other big emitters of carbon dioxide were worried about the fund. They thought it would open them up to future lawsuits if they said that less wealthy nations should be given money to help them deal with climate change. 

Many poorer nations have been hit by floods, droughts, heat waves, famine, and storms. Many scientists say they're the result of a warming planet. Yet those countries burn far fewer fossil fuels. So, they don't add much to climate change.

“Three long decades and we have finally delivered climate justice,” said an official from Tuvalu. That's an island country in the Pacific Ocean.

Officials didn't agree to reduce carbon emissions. That would help control Earth's temperature. Scientists and many of the leaders criticized that. 

“We have all fallen short in actions to avoid and minimize loss and damage,” one European Union official told fellow delegates. “We should have done much more.”

Photo from Reuters.