Oxfam Scotland Reacts to First Minister’s £5m Loss and Damage Announcement at COP27
The First Minister has announced the Scottish Government will commit an additional £5 million over the next three years to address loss and damage caused by the climate crisis.
The funding will come from the Scottish Government’s existing Climate Justice Fund.
‘Loss and damage’ refers to the destructive impacts of the climate crisis that cannot be avoided by reducing emissions or adapting to rising temperatures. New finance to help low-income communities facing losses and damages is a key issue at COP27, with rich countries under pressure to create a new financial mechanism.
At COP26 in Glasgow, the Scottish Government became the first country in the world to commit dedicated funding, some £2m, to address loss and damage, with Nicola Sturgeon describing this as an “act of reparation”.
Reacting, Jamie Livingstone, the Head of Oxfam Scotland, said:
“The world badly needs climate leaders and this further £5million allocation of grant-based funding by the Scottish Government to help address climate-induced loss and damage reinforces Scotland’s leadership on this issue.
“The climate crisis was caused by high-polluting industrialised countries and their continued failure to drive down emissions is leaving millions of people in low-income countries to suffer more frequent floods, droughts and storms, destroying homes and crops and increasing hunger and displacement.
“Low-income communities cannot continue to foot the bill for climate breakdown.
“After more than 30 years of blocking progress, all rich nations must use COP27 to establish a new global finance institution to address loss and damage that reflects the huge scale of the need and the principle of climate justice.
“More money from the Scottish Government to address loss and damage is very welcome. However, like all rich nations, the Scottish Government should ensure this money is fully new and additional, and avoid in any way squeezing the support it provides to its partner countries to help them adapt to the climate crisis.
“To achieve this, while also increasing investment to urgently cut Scotland’s climate-damaging emissions, the Scottish Government should identify new sources of finance which make polluters pay for their damage.”
For more information or interviews please contact:
Natalie Terry, Oxfam Scotland; nterry1@oxfam.org.uk / 07906139293
ENDS
Notes to Editors
In June, Oxfam published Footing the bill: fair finance for loss and damage in an era of escalating climate impacts: https://www.oxfam.org/en/research/footing-bill-fair-finance-loss-and-damage-era-escalating-climate-impacts
At COP26, the Scottish Government announced it was trebling the value of Scotland’s Climate Justice Fund from £12m to £36m in this Scottish Parliament, with this increased funding including the initial £2m allocated to address loss and damage. https://www.gov.scot/news/scotland-to-boost-climate-funding/.
It is understood that the additional £5m announced by the First Minister at COP27 to address loss and damage is from previously unallocated funding from within the £36m Climate Justice Fund announced at COP26.