DUBAI: Japan pledged to contribute 10 million dollars to a “loss and damage” fund at the start of the 28th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP28, in Dubai on Thursday.

State parties of the UN climate convention reached an agreement to operationalize the fund, designed to help developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.

The agreement was struck on the first day of the COP28 conference that will run through Dec. 12, in a rare development led by the United Arab Emirates, the chair country. The UAE promised to commit 100 million dollars to the fund.

Climate change is believed to be causing natural disasters such as extreme downpours and droughts frequently around the world, hitting developing countries with weak public finance and infrastructure particularly hard.

The establishment of the fund was agreed on during last year’s COP27, and operational details were to be discussed at COP28.

The fund will be managed by the World Bank for about four years hereafter. It calls for voluntary financial contributions, mainly from the public and private sectors of developed countries.

COP28 president Sultan Al Jaber told a press conference that he is excited to see what he described as a historic agreement to operationalize the fund.

JIJI Press