Recommendation 8

HM Government Acknowledged

. Government response: Partially agree The UK COP26 Presidency gave Adaptation, Loss and Damage (ALD) greater prominence than at any other COP. This included a special event on Loss and Damage as part of the ALD Day programme, opened by the COP President Alok Sharma and the Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Motley. The UK also published a discussion paper on UK action to support countries to avert, minimise and address the risk of loss and damage from climate change: https://www. gov.uk/government/publications/uk-action-to-support-countries-avert-minimise-and- address-the-risk-of-loss-and-damage-from-climate-change-discussion-paper. The paper set out the importance of the issue and provided an overview of relevant action the UK has invested in as well as a summary of lessons learnt. It concluded by setting out proposed areas for action to strengthen efforts on loss and damage and highlighted our commitment to take this forward under our COP Presidency. The Glasgow Climate Pact acknowledges that climate change has already caused and will increasingly cause loss and damage. It recognised the urgency of scaling up action to support developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to climate change to avert, minimise and address loss and damage. The conclusion of discussions on the functions of the Santiago Network agreed to support vulnerable countries access technical assistance on loss and damage and paves the way for greater resources to avert, minimise and address loss and damage. The UK will use our Presidency year to help ensure the timetable for further development of the institutional arrangements of the Santiago network, as laid out in Decision CMA-3 on the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage associated with climate change impacts and in the Glasgow Pact, is met. This includes submission by Parties on their views on various aspects of the arrangements for the Santiago network by 15 March 2022. The Decision and Glasgow Pact also encourage funding to be made available. New UK climate funding announced at COP will support vulnerable countries, including SIDS and LDCs, to adapt to the impact of climate change, including actions to help avert minimise and address loss and damage. The UK is committed to taking forward the measures set out in Climate and Development Pathway throughout our COP26 Presidency, and we will continue to engage closely with partners in all these areas, making full use of the most appropriate fora for doing so. Work is already underway to deliver on all four workstreams of the Climate and Development Ministerial. For example: • Access to Finance: The Taskforce on Access to Finance has now been established and launched its principles and recommendations at COP26, as well as announcing the first five pilot countries—Bangladesh, Fiji, Jamaica, Rwanda, and Uganda—to support faster, easier access to climate finance for developing countries. • Responding to the Impacts of Climate Change: Over 80 countries are now covered by either Adaptation Communications or National Adaptation Plans to increase preparedness to climate risks, with 45 submitted over the last year, and 40 countries have joined the Adaptation Action Coalition. The Glasgow Loss and Damage Dialogues were created to discuss increased funding for addressing as well as averting and minimizing loss and damage, and the Santiago Network on Loss and Damage was brought to life through an agreed set of clear functions and funding for technical assistance. • Quality, Quantity and Composition of Climate Finance: Under the UK’s Presidency, 95% of the largest developed country climate finance providers made new, forward-looking commitments. These have delivered significant progress towards the $100 billion goal, which will be reached by 2023 at the latest, and continue on a rising trajectory through to 2025. Record amounts of adaptation finance have been pledged, and a commitment to doubling 2019 levels of adaptation finance by 2025 was secured at COP26. This is the first time an adaptation-specific financing goal has ever been agreed globally. • Fiscal Space and Debt Sustainability: In August the IMF implemented a $650bn allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) - the largest in the Fund’s history. G20 Leaders have agreed to work on options to magnify the impact of this allocation on vulnerable countries, as part of a global ambition to that $100bn SDR benefit countries most in need. The IMF’s proposed Resilience and Sustainability Trust (RST) is expected to provide long-term finance at low interest rates to both low-income and vulnerable middle-income countries, including small-island economies. The RST could have a target size of at least $30bn and aims to be operational by Autumn 2022.