Nicola Sturgeon announces £5m fund for climate reparations

Though discussed on the margins on previous summits, this year is the first time that loss and damage has been on the official agenda. 

At last year’s event, almost all references to new financial support were removed in the final agreement and instead the Glasgow Dialogue was established, with the aim of making it a key part of this year’s event. 

However, with economies across the world battered by the impact of Russia’s war in Ukraine, there is a fear that richer nations - those responsible for the vast majority of greenhouse gases since the industrial age - will pull back from any meaningful commitment.

Speaking at a New York Times event on the fringes of the summit, former prime minister Boris Johnson cautioned against agreeing to repatriations, saying the “taxpayer in the developed world cannot do everything.”

But Nicola Sturgeon said the countries that have “caused climate change and have the greatest access to resources” had an “obligation to step up.”

It is the second tranche of funding to tackle loss and damage from the Scottish Government. 

Last year, at COP26, the First Minister announced £2m, making Scotland the first country to commit finance to loss and damage.

The government said the money would “enable communities to take direct action to address the impacts of loss and damage” including “slow-onset effects, such as sea level rise and non-economic effects, such as the loss of cultural identity.” 

It will also come as a grant rather than as a loan to “ensure no additional debt burden for recipient countries.” 

They have said the process will be “community-led and owned.”

Ms Sturgeon said she was being guided by "the perspectives of the Global South." 

“After all, for more than 30 years now - since the views of island states were first ignored – decisions at COP have been dominated by the voices of the Global North.

“With loss and damage now on the formal agenda for the first time, this COP can mark a turning point in ensuring the views, experiences and perspectives of the Global South assume a far more central role. 

“If that does happen it will lead to greater progress on loss and damage and will also, I hope, lead to quicker action on other aspects of climate change. I encourage all parties to make space for serious, open and honest discussion over the next two weeks.

“The funding Scotland has announced today is a small sum in terms of the overall scale of the loss and damage that developing countries face, but I hope that it sends an important message."

The SNP leader pointed to commitments made Denmark and Wallonia, and said governments did not need to wait "for a consensus decision" from COP.

“I very much hope that we will make collective progress on loss and damage at this COP," she said. If that doesn’t happen, I expect that more and more governments will take action on their own – my belief is that as we do, it will create a momentum for change which will feed into future COP summits.”

Professor Saleem Huq, Director of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development, praised the commitment: “The Scottish Government’s leadership in this area, including this latest funding pledge, is welcome and I hope it will prove an inspiration to other countries to take action to provide funding for loss and damage with urgency at COP27,” he said.

Earlier in the day, Mr Johnson told delegates that reparations was the wrong conversation to be having at COP.

He said: “The best way to fix this is not to look backwards and to try to tot up some bill for loss and damage that the UK or other countries have done, but try to try to look at what the UK can do to help to take countries forward and help them achieve the carbon reductions and green technologies.”

He said the country simply did not have the money.

“Two hundred years ago, we started it all and there’s no question that per capita, people in the UK have put out an awful lot of carbon into the atmosphere. 

“But what we cannot do is, you know, make up for that with some kind of reparations. We simply do not have the financial resources — and no country could.”

“The whole concept is tough: who devises the reparations? Let’s look to the future,” he added.

Grant Shapps, the business secretary, said this morning that Britain was “supportive of discussions” about reparations. 

“We’re accepting the principle there’s a discussion to be had about this [at Cop27]. We industrialised first and we appreciate the rest of the world needs to be able to bring themselves along as well.”

However, a number of Tory MPs may have more sympathy with Mr Johnson. 

On Sunday, Labour’s shadow climate change secretary Ed Miliband committed his party to providing finance for loss and damage. 

“This is about global solidarity,” he told the BBC. “Yes we have some historical responsibility but this is about global solidarity and it's absolutely part of our aid commitment.”

The comments were seized upon by climate sceptic members of the Tory backbenches.  

Craig Mackinlay told the Daily Mail: “How on earth we could be held responsible for our past, which actually gave more technological advances to the world than any other country, I find somewhat laughable.”

Lang Banks, director of WWF Scotland praised the funding. He said: “It’s great to see the Scottish Government continue its support for climate justice, recognising the fact that most of those impacted hardest by climate change did least to cause the problem.

“We particularly welcome the move by the Scottish Government to build upon its announcement at COP26, in Glasgow last year, of funding for action on loss and damage.

“The urgent need to support countries to recover and adapt from the impacts of climate change that are already being felt has finally moved centre stage at COP27.

"This is an important issue that we hope to see meaningful progress in the coming days.”