Loss and Damage at the COP27: Ethnographic Reflection of EU’s Failed Negotiations

The UNFCCC's Conference of Parties in Sharm el-Sheikh (COP27 in November 2022) was a largely underwhelming one, remarkable perhaps only for the establishment of the Loss and Damage (L&D) fund. L&D has been on UNFCCC's agenda for at least a decade, but the Egypt COP was the first one, in which countries agreed to establish a fund to finance climate-induced events in the developing countries. The European Union (together with other Umbrella group members) has long opposed this. But in Egypt, despite failing to achieve its own climate targets, Brussels eventually accepted the establishment of the fund. Why? What changed the EU's mind? Building on my ethnographic research at the COP in Egypt, I argue there were three main reasons that lead EU to change its position on L&D: i) EU strived to show a good face after its negative reception at the Glasgow COP26, ii) EU was influenced by changing priorities of several other key partners from the Umbrella group, and iii) EU adopted the fund as a tit-for-tat strategy to achieve some of its mitigation targets. Though the EU was often praised as a consensus-builder for its role in the L&D fund establishment, the conference was ultimately a failure for the union and will likely lead to several consequences in terms of future scenario building and preparedness.