Act together to fight climate change

As the chair of the COP 27 Group of 77 and China (i.e. developing countries), it was my responsibility to bring together the countries of the world to finally make realistic and significant steps to address the current and future implications of climate change and global warming on the planet, with particular reference to the developing world. For me this was not just a professional responsibility but a deeply personal one as foreign minister of Pakistan, the country that was ravaged by the climate change catastrophe of severe floods in 2022. The decision at Sharm el-Sheikh to establish a fund to assist developing countries address loss and damage from the adverse impacts of climate change was a momentous first step, a signal of hope for humanity and the planet.

As the chair, I proposed the discussion on a loss and damage financing facility last June in the preparations for COP 27. We faced familiar resistance to placing the issue on the Conference agenda. Ultimately, and not easily, we succeeded.

The impacts of climate change and global warming have progressively become more frequent and ferocious. Those who have contributed the least to global warming are suffering the most. For 30 years, the most vulnerable countries have pressed for a fund through which those who have contributed the most to global carbon emissions would help the vulnerable countries recover from climate disasters and other consequences of climate change — rising sea levels, drought, hurricanes and floods.