​New Delhi: An international panel on loss and damage due to climate crisis has reached an agreement on operationalising a global fund late Saturday night in Abu Dhabi, with the US formally objecting to the outcome.

The agreement will be sent by the transitional committee to the UN climate summit to be held in Dubai for further deliberations, along with the objections the US raised.

Although a text was adopted on operationalising a global loss and damage fund, the US and developing countries had several reservations. The US wanted to withdraw support to the text because it insisted that it should be made clear that contributions to the fund were voluntary. The funding arrangements are weak and take away from the historical responsibility of rich nations in contributing to global warming, developing countries said.

There was a quorum, the transitional committee said, so the text will be forwarded for further discussion at the 28th Conference of Parties (COP28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change that starts on November 30. The parties denote countries that are signatories to the convention.

“The fund is able to receive contributions from a wide variety of sources of funding, including grants and concessional loans from public, private and innovative sources, as appropriate,” the adopted text said. It only urged developed countries to continue to provide support, and encourage other nations to provide voluntary support for activities to address loss and damage due to the climate emergency.

“I welcome the agreement reached today in Abu Dhabi by the transitional committee. This clear and strong recommendation to operationalise the loss and damage fund and funding arrangements paves the way for an agreement at COP28,” Sultan Al Jaber of the United Arab Emirates and president of COP28, said in a statement. “Billions of people, lives and livelihoods who are vulnerable to the effects of climate change depend upon the adoption of this recommended approach at COP28.”

The US wanted further clarity on the fact that contributions will be voluntary. “The intent is on voluntary basis,” US representative Christina Chansaid. “Can we put it as a footnote that urgings and encouragements to developed parties are all on a voluntary basis?”

“We cannot agree to this text because the objection to the footnote we asked for is not acceptable,” she added.

There are no financial obligations to the fund and it is voluntary, chairperson of the panel, Outi Honkatukia of Finland, clarified at the meeting

The fund will provide support for responding to loss and damage, which may include funding complementary to humanitarian action taken immediately after an extreme weather event; intermediate or long-term recovery, reconstruction, or rehabilitation actions; and action to address slow onset events like extreme heat, drought and sea level rise. The fund will be hosted by the World Bank for an intermediate period.

Despite developing nations making a compromise offer to temporarily locate the fund in the World Bank as suggested by rich nations, talks on funding had been faltering, HT reported on Saturday.

Wealthy nations remained non-committal on being the main contributors to the fund and said they will not accept references to liability, equity and common but differentiated responsibility in the funding facility text, according to observers who declined to be named.

“It is a sombre day for climate justice, as rich countries turn their backs on vulnerable communities, allowing those who have contributed the least to the climate crisis to suffer its most severe consequences,” said Harjeet Singh, head of global political strategy at Climate Action Network International, a collective of non-profits. “The reluctance of wealthy nations to fulfil their financial responsibilities, in spite of historical obligations, has starkly revealed their true intentions and their indifference to the plight of the developing world.”

“This was a challenging but critical outcome. It was one of those things where success can be measured in the equality of discomfort,” said Avinash Persaud, transitional committee member for Latin America and the Caribbean. “But, if we had failed, it would have cast a long shadow over COP and started to unravel a host of climate actions that depend on mutual trust between developing and developed nations.”