Najam Comments on COP27 Loss and Damage Fund for Developing Countries
Adil Najam, Dean Emeritus and Professor of International Relations and Earth and Environment at Boston University’s Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, published an op-ed in The Conversation on the recent COP27 climate summit, the agreed upon loss and damage fund for vulnerable countries harmed by climate change, and whether this agreement will address pressing calls for climate justice.
In his article, titled “COP27’s ‘loss and damage’ fund for developing countries could be a breakthrough – or another empty climate promise,” Najam raises a number of important questions surrounding the COP27 “loss and damage” fund and why it might not materialize in the way that developing countries hope. While this agreement shows that the idea of loss and damage will be a central feature of all future climate negotiations, Najam worries about its implementation and effectiveness. With no concrete funding commitments included in the loss and damage agreement, Najam speculates on whether this will just be another “placebo fund” – an agreed-to funding arrangement without any agreed-to funding commitments – much like the much-trumpeted $100 billion USD a year that wealthy nations promised in Paris in 2015 to provide for developing nations.
The full op-ed can be read on The Conversation‘s website. The article was recirculated in the November 22 print edition of the Miami Herald and can be read online.
Adil Najam is a global public policy expert who served as the Inaugural Dean of the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University and was the former Vice-Chancellor of the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). His research focuses on issues of global public policy, especially those related to global climate change, South Asia, Muslim countries, environment and development, and human development. Read more about Professor Najam on his faculty profile.