Denmark vows funding for ‘loss and damage’ due to climate change

LONDON – Denmark pledged at the UN General Assembly in New York to be the first country to provide funding to developing nations that have suffered “loss and damage” caused by climate disruptions.

During a ministerial meeting on the sidelines of the General Assembly in New York City, the country promised to provide 100 million Danish crowns (over USD13 million) in compensation as part of its climate aid to help climate victims in developing nations recover.

Danish Development Minister Flemming Moller Mortensen said it is “grossly unfair that the world’s poorest should suffer the most from the consequences of climate change,” to which they have contributed “the least.”

Mortensen said the funds would go to Africa’s Sahel region and other vulnerable areas affected by the climate crisis.

“With this new agreement, we are putting action behind words,” he added.

Last year at the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (COP26), the G77, a bloc of more than 130 developing countries, demanded financial support for climate victims, but the initiative was blocked by the US, the European Union, and other rich countries.

Addressing the “loss and damage” in vulnerable countries was already agreed on under the Paris Agreement, but due to the fear of being sued by those countries affected by climate disasters, it was then rejected by the rich nations.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres emphasized that the rich nations should support countries suffering losses and damage caused by the climate crisis by imposing taxes on windfall profits of fossil fuel companies. (Anadolu)