Kathmandu School of Law Review

P-ISSN : 2091-2110, E-ISSN : 2773-8159, DOI : 10.46985, Publisher : Kathmandu School of Law, Nepal
Annual flagship journal of Kathmandu School of Law, Nepal

Volume 13, Issue 1, 2024
Articles

Addressing ‘Loss and Damage’ For Climate Justice in The Global South: An Analysis

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  • Noor Israth Jahan
Noor Israth Jahan
Assistant Professor, Department of Law, University of Chittagong
DOI: https://doi.org/10.46985/kslr.v13i1.2234

Published 2025-01-17

Keywords

  • Climate Change, Loss and Damage, Climate Justice, Global South.

How to Cite

Jahan, N. I. (2025). Addressing ‘Loss and Damage’ For Climate Justice in The Global South: An Analysis. Kathmandu School of Law Review, 13(1), 56–65. https://doi.org/10.46985/kslr.v13i1.2234

Copyright (c) 2025 Noor Israth Jahan

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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Abstract

Determining climate related loss and damage and identifying historical responsibility for it is a highly debated topic in the climate change discourse. There are various critical aspects to this issue - agreeing on the contours and criteria of what ‘loss and damage’ is, acceptance of historical responsibility by big emitters, fixing compensation for the loss and damage, and the encompassing concern of equity and justice. A proper resolution of the issue must also account for the justice concerns of developing and small island states who, though having contributed the least in creating the climate change problem, are the most affected victims of loss and damage due to their geographical location, climatic conditions and limited adaptive capacities. Since the beginning of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations, developed and developing countries have struggled to frame the concept of loss and damage, and the issue remains. This article explores how developed countries have succeeded in containing progression of the concept of loss and damage and avoiding ‘historical responsibility’ for it. The launch of the Loss and Damage Fund in UNFCCC Conference of Parties 28 is no doubt a milestone for developing countries, but its constitution as a voluntary fund without compulsory contribution from the well-known and highest emitters creates skepticism as to whether it will bring any justice for the Global South. By employing an analytical method and examining both primary and secondary sources, this article concludes that the current framing of the loss and damage issue is unlikely to usher in climate justice for the Global South because it does not associate climate related loss and damage with historical responsibility of the carbon polluters – without their association, a liability framework will not take off.

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References

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  56. 54. The Cook Islands, Marshall Islands, Micronesia (Federated States), Nauru, Niue, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Vanuatu and Philippines made similar declarations; See Linda Siegele, ‘Loss and Damage under the Paris Agreement’ in Meinhard Doelle & Sara L Seck (eds.), Research Handbook on Climate Change Law and Loss & Damage, Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, UK, 2021, pp.103-104.
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  70. 67. Though Glasgow Dialogue on Loss and Damage found place in the draft decision of the Glasgow Conference, the finally adopted Glasgow Climate Pact omitted the provision; ‘Glasgow Climate Pact: Proposal by the President’, COP 26, UNFCCC, Glasgow, October-November 2021, para. 73; See Glasgow Climate Pact, 8 March 2022, Glasgow, 13 November 2021.
  71. 68. ‘Provisional Agenda and Annotations: Note by the Executive Secretary’, COP 27, UNFCCC, Egypt, 6-20 November 2022, p. 2.
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  73. 70. Ibid.
  74. 71. ‘Draft Decision on the Operationalization of the New Funding Arrangements, including the Fund, for Responding to Loss and Damage referred to in paragraphs 2-3 of Decisions 2/CP. 27 and 2/CMA.4’, COP 28, UNFCCC, UAE, November-December 2023, p.2.
  75. 72. Ibid.
  76. 73. Developed countries have so far pledged combinedly just over $700 million to the loss and damage fund, which is less than 0.2% of the losses the developing countries face every year. See Nina Lakhani, ‘$700 m Pledged to Loss and Damage Fund at COP 28 Covers Less Than 0.2% Needed’, The Guardian, London, 6 December 2023, available at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/dec/06/700m-pledged-to-loss-and-damage-fund-cop28-coversless-than-02-percent-needed, accessed on 23 December 2023. However, in a search for innovative funding sources for loss and damage, Roberts et al. suggested six options, for example, financial transaction tax, international airline passenger levy, solidarity levy, bunker fuel levy, fossil fuel majors carbon levy, global carbon tax. J Timmons Roberts et al., ‘How Will We Pay for Loss and Damage?’ Ethics, Policy & Environment, p. 208, volume 20:2, 2017, p. 215.
  77. 74. See UNFCCC (n 71), para. 15; Ylenia Gostoli, ‘Reparations Fund ‘Historic’, but Real Fights Begins Now: Climate Campaigners’, Al Jazeera, Doha, 2 December 2023, available at https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2023/12/2/reparations-fund-historic-but-real-fight-begins-now-climate-campaigners, accessed on 14 December 2023.
  78. 75. Recent research shows that fossil fuel companies’ contribution to climate crisis is equivalent to $209 billion per year; Marco Grasso & Richard Heede, ‘Time to Pay the Piper: Fossil Fuel Companies’ Reparations for Climate Damages’, One Earth, p. 459, volume 6:5, 2023, p. 461, available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2023.04.012, accessed on 13 December 2024.

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