Developing countries and the West led by the US are at odds over climate change compensation in COP27

The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, has turned into a battleground of a sort with two sides clearly demarcated by their interests. On one side are developed countries led by the United States of America and on the other are developing nations. The fight of course is over the issue of who pays to clear the mess the planet is in. The pollution has led to climate change and  rise in temperature of the planet. A small change in temperature has brought big and fundamental change in the economies of the developing countries. They are facing vagaries of weather which is resulting in catastrophes on a global scale. And it is no secret that the developed countries are to blame when it comes to polluting the planet earth. Of course new entrants to the polluters club are India and China, both from the developing countries.Now the premise of developing countries is simple. The climate has changed due to the pollution that comes from the developed countries and they happen to be the worst victims. They have neither money nor technology to fight the menace. So they should pay the money to the developing countries.

Indeed developing countries disproportionately suffer the worst climate-change-related natural disasters, in part due to geographic location and vulnerable infrastructure. These countries have for years been calling for compensation for the effects of climate change, known as “loss and damage,” in climate diplomacy speak. As the impact of climate change becomes more severe, those demands have intensified. After a year of dramatic disasters linked to climate change, such as record-setting heat waves, droughts and tropical hurricanes, representatives of developing nations — including Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, who is serving as president of  COP27 — have said a successful outcome this time will have to include a loss-and-damage fund. In fact, small island nations have threatened to walk out on the conference if the text of an agreement does not include a fund for loss and damage. The, rich countries have been shying away from owning the responsibility so far. The damages could be as high as   $400 billion per year by the end of this decade. They refuse to provide compensation for loss and damage. Even the U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres has backed the developing nations. If the rich countries do not own up their responsibility we are heading for more trouble in times to come.