If you’ve been keeping up with the news from the COP27 summit this week, you might have heard the word ‘climate reparations’ crop up in much of the coverage.

As world leaders gather in Egypt to discuss how to deal with the worsening climate crisis, the subject of “loss and damage” – which refers to the negative effects of climate change and how to address them – has appeared on the agenda for the first time in history. 

While this covers a whole range of issues, one of the core remits of these discussions is establishing a fund to help provide “climate justice” or reparations to the vulnerable countries already struggling with the impacts of climate change.

But what actually are ‘climate reparations’ and how would they work? Keep reading to find out everything you need to know as COP27 continues. 

While you may not have heard the phrase ‘climate reparations’ before, you’ll probably have come across the concept of reparations at some point or another.

Traditionally used to describe the compensation for war damages paid by a defeated state at the conclusion of a conflict, reparations simply refer to the actions taken by one party to make amends for wrong done to another party.

In the case of climate reparations, this means that higher-income countries, who have disproportionately contributed to the climate crisis as a result of high CO2 emissions, would provide funding and support to the vulnerable, lower-income countries which are already dealing with the effects of global warming but have contributed very little to global emissions. 

These include countries like Pakistan, where catastrophic flooding cost the country $30 billion of loss and damage earlier this year, and the island nation of Vanuatu, where rising sea levels and worsening storms are threatening coastal communities.  

So far, most higher-income countries have refused to commit to paying any form of climate reparations, but the fact that world leaders have agreed to discuss the subject at this year’s COP conference is a sign that things might be progressing.

At last year’s COP26 talks in Glasgow, a bloc of developing nations asked for a fund or “facility” to be set up to distribute loss and damage funds to the countries who need it, but no concrete action was taken. Instead, negotiators agreed to the ‘Glasgow Dialogue’, with the aim of making it the main focus of this year’s event.  

However, while there has been some support for the idea of a climate reparations fund – just this week, Nicola Sturgeon committed £5 million of Scottish Government money to the cause – others have suggested the reparations be paid in different ways, including international loan forgiveness, or by using pre-existing humanitarian networks.

Whatever happens, it’s clear that those countries being disproportionately affected by climate change need help – and soon. The loss and damage costs associated with climate change are expected to rise massively as the planet continues to warm, with one study suggesting that costs could reach somewhere between $290 and $580 billion per year by 2030, and $1 trillion a year by 2050. 

While Rishi Sunak has addressed calls for climate reparations during his time at COP27, he’s yet to agree to the concept of a climate fund being called for by many lower-income countries.

Indeed, during a speech made at the opening of COP27, Sunak said it was “morally right” for the UK to honour its climate pledges when faced with the extreme events going on in countries like Pakistan, and acknowledged that many developing countries had been “unfairly burdened with the carbon debt of richer nations”.

He also confirmed that the UK is tripling its funding to help nations adapt to the impacts of climate change, committing to spending £1.5 billion on adaptation by 2025.  

As the conference continues, it remains to be seen whether Sunak and other world leaders will commit to the kind of wide-reaching fund that is being called for.  

In a statement, Number 10 said that Britain is “already helping countries across the world deal with the impact of climate change”.

“We recognise the existential threat it poses to countries around the world, from flooding to drought, and that’s why we have made a commitment to help those countries to support them on that front,” the PM’s official spokesman said. 

Images: Getty