Photo and Excerpt from www.theguardian.com

A landmark deal to help the world’s poorest and most vulnerable countries pay for the irreversible impacts of climate disaster was agreed on the first day of the Cop28 UN summit.

The agreement was met with a standing ovation from delegates.

Host country UAE and Germany both pledged $100m (£79m) to the loss and damage startup fund, which will aim to keep up with the rising costs caused by extreme weather and slow-onset disasters such as sea level rise, ocean acidification and melting glaciers.

Germany’s development minister, Svenja Schulze, said: “Germany and the United Arab Emirates are jointly leading the way. At the same time, we are jointly calling on all countries that are willing and able to make contributions of their own to the new fund responding to loss and damage. In this way, we are building bridges between traditional donor countries and new, non-traditional donors. After all, many countries that were still developing countries 30 years ago can now afford shouldering their share of responsibility for global climate-related loss and damage.”