Unlocking Progress on Loss and Damage

- A COP27-Side Event -

Watch the livestream of this side event!

To many the climate negotiations appear to be stuck, how do we unlock progress on Loss and Damage?

Loss and damage and finance for loss and damage emerged as a key negotiating point at COP 26 in Glasgow. Despite a strong push by civil society actors and developing country negotiators the demand for a loss and damage finance facility was not accommodated and a dialogue was agreed instead. This is a figment of a larger pattern where it has taken negotiators from developing and vulnerable countries many years to find ways for international climate law to address the issue of loss and damage. There have been important victories like the establishment of the Warsaw International Mechanism and the promised Santiago Network, yet these victories are yet to translate into legal clarity on questions of liability, compensation, and rehabilitation. It is an effort to undo this gridlock that climate litigation may provide an alternative avenue.

This session will bring together representatives from climate impacted communities, key negotiators from climate vulnerable countries and climate lawyers to deliberate on how to make progress on Loss and Damage in the negotiations. What can be done to accelerate action under the Paris Agreement?

• César Rodríguez-Garavito (Climate Litigation Accelerator, NYU Law)
•  Saúl Luciano Lliuya (Plaintiff in Saúl Luciano Lliuya vs. RWE)
•  Hafijul Islam Khan (Climate Justice Centre Bangladesh)
•  Noah Walker-Crawford (University College London / Germanwatch)
• Delta Merner (Union of Concerned Scientists)

The panel session will be followed by a Q&A session moderated by Practical Action.