Overview
- Negotiators for a landmark climate disaster fund resolved to recommend the World Bank to host the fund, which is yet to be approved in the upcoming U.N.'s COP28 climate summit later this month.
- The U.S. and several developing countries showed reservations about the details of the fund, such as the financial obligations of nations to contribute and the lack of clarity that contributions to the fund would be voluntary.
- Breaking a deadlock from previous negotiations, the World Bank will host the fund on an interim basis for a four year period.
- Despite clearance on many aspects of the fund, contentions continue to persist over the scale and sources of funding, as well as whether developing nations would incur costs.
- The fund will be the first U.N. mechanism dedicated specifically to helping countries that have sustained irreversible climate damage from drought, floods, and rising sea levels by seeking to divert billions towards those particularly vulnerable.