Funding for loss and damage must be in billions, Quakers say
Quakers in Britain and others in the Make Polluters Pay coalition have cautiously welcomed a landmark deal to help pay for the irreversible impacts of climate disaster.
But they warn that funding must be in the billions, not the US$429million pledged as COP28 opened in the UAE last week, to ensure climate-impacted communities are properly compensated.
COP28 host UAE and Germany both pledged $100m to the fund, along with $245m from the EU and $75m from the UK.
Funding must be new and additional, not taken from development aid or much-needed other priorities such as health and education, Make Polluters Pay said.
And the UK government must put long-term arrangements in place through taxing the fossil fuel industry, who have profited from this crisis.
The Loss and Damage Fund is supposed to help vulnerable countries cope with the rising costs of extreme weather, melting glaciers, sea level rise and much else.
It is politically sensitive because it involves wealthy nations and polluters accepting responsibility for the harm their carbon emissions have caused. And paying to redress that harm.
COP28 Day of Action
To encourage continued action on the Loss and Damage Fund and other climate justice work, Quakers and other faith groups are joining a COP28 Day of Action in London on Saturday, 9 December.
The day of action will put pressure on wealthy nations to step up and take responsibility for climate breakdown at COP28.
Attendees will gather in St James's Square at 11.30am to pray or hold a moment of stillness together before joining the rally, which will start outside the BP headquarters in St James's Square.
BP has made billions of pounds by fuelling climate breakdown.
Marchers will then move onto BAE systems and bear witness to the death and destruction caused by these two companies' relentless drive for profit through fossil fuel extraction, conflict and war.
After the end of the rally, some people will then continue in a group to the National March for Palestine to demand a ceasefire which is happening on the same day.
Quakers work to build a peaceful and sustainable world. There is no place in this world for profiting from the destruction of our climate, our communities and our futures.