The establishment of a loss and damage fund is one of the main historic outcomes achieved at the 27th Conference of the Parties (COP27). This is important for the African continent as we are so vulnerable to the impact of climate change.

This year’s climate conference was termed “implementation COP”. There was general consensus among the parties to the Paris Agreement that the main pillars of implementation are action on mitigation and adaptation; support for developing countries through finance, and other “means of implementation”. There was an expectation that previous financial pledges to accelerating implementation ahead of COP27 would finally be fulfilled. The conference was also framed as the “Africa COP”, with the expectation that issues central to Africa would be prioritised and resolved. It is important then to question whether COP27 delivered on addressing issues important to African countries.

The main outcomes of COP27 were the establishment of the loss and damage fund; the launching of the adaptation agenda to support adaptation and to build resilience for four billion people by 2030, and the go-ahead for the trading of carbon credits. However, indecision about the unresolved issue of phasing out fossil fuels was disappointing — especially considering the current backtracking to fossil fuels by developed countries in light of their own energy crises.

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