Financing loss and damage and international climate governance: A climate justice perspective
Author(s): Virendra Kumar
Abstract:
The idea of climate justice has emerged as a normative framework to examine policy decisions and outcomes at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This perspective questions the uneven contribution of advanced industrialised nations to climate change and demands just and fair redressal for the communities and nations that are the more vulnerable and bear disproportionate adverse climate impacts. Climate finance, which took center stage in 2009, is always taken as an important means to support mitigation and adaptation measures for vulnerable nations. The recognition of the Loss and Damage financing facility at COP 27 is hailed as a milestone given the fact that mitigation and adaptation have not been very successful in the Global South nations. This paper employs a climate justice framework to critically reflect on existing climate finance mechanisms within and outside UNFCCC. More specifically the paper examines whether finance meant for the Loss and Damage Fund is adequate, additional, and accessible to the most vulnerable nations, especially small island nations. The paper argues that discretionary and voluntary approaches to finance Loss and Damage amount to disregarding norms of equity and justice in climate governance. The paper further develops a critique of profit-driven insurance-based mechanisms and finally makes the point that international financial institution requires changes in governance to make accessible and adequate resources available for vulnerable nations and communities.
Virendra Kumar. Financing loss and damage and international climate governance: A climate justice perspective. Int J Political Sci Governance 2024;6(2):166-174. DOI: 10.33545/26646021.2024.v6.i2c.379