Few phrases engender greater alarm among negotiators.

The concept of “loss and damage” at the UN climate change negotiations has emerged and grown more prominent as countries fail to adequately reduce their emissions, rendering even heroic adaptation efforts inadequate to confront climate impacts.

By Guy Edwards and Timmons Roberts

Tuesday May 17, the CDL will co-host a workshop on financing Loss and Damage with the German Development Institute and the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD).

The event will begin at noon with a light lunch and culminate with a drinks reception from 5-6 pm. It will be held at the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) located on Tulpenfeld 6, 53113 Bonn, Germany.

The workshop will start with some background to the Loss and Damage Mechanism and how the issue has evolved.  Dedicated sessions will include a review of language in the UNFCCC's Warsaw International Mechanism (WIM), the Paris Agreement, and documents of the WIM Executive Committee, and discuss different financing options and their appropriateness for addressing Loss and Damage.

This workshop relates to some exciting research being conducted by the CDL including a number of undergraduate students who led the drafting of a report recently submitted to the UNFCCCC in preparation for the UN climate negotiations in Marrakesh, Morocco, this November. The draft white paper “Financing Options for Loss and Damage: A Review and Roadmap” was jointly prepared by the CDL and the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD).  The workshop will be used to revise the paper, which will be published by DIE in September before the Marrakesh negotiations.