CLIMATE COMPENSATION FUND - ENVIRONMENT

News: U.N. climate talks open in Egypt, climate compensation on agenda for first time

What's in the news?

       Delegates at the U.N.’s COP27 climate summit in Egypt agreed to discuss whether rich nations should compensate poor countries most vulnerable to climate change for their suffering.

Key takeaways:

       This creates for the first time an institutionally stable space on the formal agenda of COP and the Paris Agreement to discuss the pressing issue of funding arrangements needed to deal with existing gaps, responding to loss and damage,” COP27 president Sameh Shoukry told the opening plenary.

       The item was adopted to the agenda in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, as world leaders arrived for the negotiations scheduled to run through November 18.

       Much of the tension at COP27 is expected to relate to loss and damage - funds provided by wealthy nations to vulnerable lower-income countries that bear little responsibility for climate-warming emissions.

Climate funds:

1. Green Climate Fund:

       The Green Climate Fund (GCF) was adopted as a financial mechanism of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) at the end of 2011 in CoP 16.

       The GCF is intended to support projects, programmes, policies and other activities in developing countries for combating climate change.

       The GCF finances activities to both enable and support adaptation, mitigation (including REDD+), technology development and transfer (including CCS), capacity-building and the preparation of national reports.

2. GEF:

       The Global Environment Facility (GEF) has served as an operating entity of the financial mechanism since the Convention’s entry into force in 1994.

       Two special funds are set up and are managed by the GEF.

       The Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF)

       The Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF).

3. Adaptation Fund:

       The Adaptation Fund (AF) was established under the Kyoto Protocol in 2001.

4. National Adaptation Fund for Climate Change(NAFCC):

       It was founded in 2015 to cover the costs of climate change adaptation for Indian states and union territories that are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change.

5. National Clean Energy Fund (NCEF):

       The Fund was established to encourage sustainable energy and was initially supported by a carbon levy on enterprises that used coal.

       The Finance Secretary serves as the Chairman of an Inter-Ministerial Group that governs the organisation.

       Its mission is to fund Research and Development (R&D) of innovative clean energy technology in both the fossil and non-fossil fuel industries.

6. National Adaptation Fund:

       The fund, which has a capital of Rs. 100 crore, was founded in 2014 with the goal of bridging the gap between need and available finances.

       The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) manages the fund.