Securing the Agenda: Inclusion of Loss and Damage

COP is a process and not an event. Much work happens before a COP ‘begins’. One of the initial steps is the setting of the agenda.

In the days preceding the official opening of COP27, negotiators have been working hard to set the agenda that will inform what issues will be discussed in the coming weeks. COP27 President Shoukry noted that the ‘Herculean’ 48-hour long agenda-setting consultations had ‘borne fruit’. Significantly, the issue of Loss and Damage has made it onto the agenda for the first time since the UN climate talks process began.

‘Loss and damage’ is a general term used in UN climate negotiations to refer to the consequences of climate change that go beyond what people can adapt to, or when options exist but a community doesn’t have the resources to access or utilize them. Loss and damage is and will continue to harm vulnerable communities the most, making addressing the issue a matter of climate justice.

It [the issue of loss and damage] has been floating for thirty plus years… what will be most telling is how those discussions progress the substantive discussion over the next couple of weeks.

-UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiel (2022)