SCOTLAND is set to announce new funding towards loss and damage for countries severely impacted by climate change, it has been revealed.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told journalists at the summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, that: "We'll be announcing a further financial commitment to loss and damage”.
The additional cash will look "in particular at non-economic loss and damage that many countries are suffering," the FM told Sky News. This could include things like loss of tradition and culture.
Loss and damage is the destructive impacts of climate change that can’t be avoided by mitigation or adaptation by vulnerable nations that are disproportionately impacted.
The FM said: "That would be a further very significant part of Scotland's determination to see real progress behind that issue that should have been dealt with many years ago.”
She also said there is an obligation for richer countries that have largely caused climate change to help those suffering the impact of it.
The FM told the BBC: “I think this COP is an opportunity for the global north and the global south to come together and have a proper, grown-up conversation about how we make progress.
“We’ve got to mitigate climate change, we’ve got to help countries adapt to the impacts of climate change, but as we’ve seen over the past year, not least in Pakistan, there are many parts of the world that are suffering loss and damage now that is irreversible and can’t be mitigated against.
“There is an obligation in the spirit of solidarity for the richer countries that have largely caused climate change to now make a big effort to help those dealing with the impacts address that.”
During last year’s COP26, Scotland became the first developed nation to pledge finance towards the contentious issue.
Further details on how much funding is due to be announced on Tuesday.
The £2m sum prompted other countries, like Denmark’s 100 million DKK (£11.8m), to contribute to the fund, but there is still a long way to go to meet the desired $100bn target.
At COP15 in Copenhagen in 2009, rich nations pledged to channel the huge sum each year by less wealthy nations by 2020, to help them adapt and change to rising temperatures - but this target is nowhere near being met.
However, COP27 opened with a breakthrough on Sunday as the funding for such losses made it onto the climate talk’s agenda for the first time.
Liz Murray, of Global Justice Now, said: "The First Minister’s pledge of further finance for those countries suffering loss and damage due to the floods, droughts and storms caused by the climate emergency is an important one – and other rich countries must now step up and make their own pledges.
"The UK government has steadfastly avoided this in the past but must now move to the right side of history. To raise the finance needed, the Scottish and UK governments should tax the profits, carbon emissions and financial transactions of the fossil fuel companies and other corporate polluters at the root of this emergency.
"Because as things stand countries in the global south are being forced to pay to rebuild their homes and livelihoods after climate disasters, while corporate polluters who drive global warming are getting away with it."
The announcement comes after John Swinney, interim Finance Secretary, announced £1.2bn in cuts across the Scottish Government portfolio as a "result of Westminster chaos".
