Highly polluting emerging economies including China and India should pay into a climate compensation fund to help countries rebuild after climate change-driven disasters, the prime minister of island nation Antigua and Barbuda said on Tuesday.
The comments marked the first time the two nations have been lumped into the list of major emitters that island states say should be held to account for damage already being wrought by global warming.
Prime Minister Gaston Browne, speaking on behalf of theAssociation of Small Island States (AOSIS) negotiating bloc, told reporters the world's first- and third-biggest greenhouse-gas emitters - though still emerging economies - have a responsibility to pay into a fund.
Delegates at the conference agreed to put the topic of loss and damage onto the formal agenda for the first time in the history of international climate negotiations.
"We all know that the People's Republic of China, India -they're major polluters, and the polluter must pay," Browne said. "I don't think that there's any free pass for any country and I don't say this with any acrimony."
In U.N. climate talks, the phrase "loss and damage" refers to costs already being incurred from climate-fuelled weather extremes or impacts, like rising sea levels.
To date, climate-vulnerable countries have called on historical emitters like the United States, the United Kingdom and the EU to pay climate reparations.
China itself has previously supported the creation of a loss and damage fund but has not said it should pay into it. The EU and the United States have said that China, the world's biggest greenhouse gas emitter, should pay.
India, though a top emitter, has per capita emissions that are significantly lower than the world average.
AOSIS wants a full commitment to launch a multi-billion dollar fund by 2024.
Egypt's lead climate negotiator Mohamed Nasr told Reuters that the goal for the COP27 negotiations was to get some clarity on the way forward for loss and damage, but that there was still a wide range of views.
"Now we have a starting point, so it is more streamlined and more focused and hopefully by the end of the two weeks we'll have something that would identify the road map, the milestones to deliver," he said.
Over the coming year, the goal would be to identify a mechanism for delivering loss and damage funding.
"We'll be looking at the different options. Is it a facility? Is it a new fund? Is it the existing funds? I mean there are a lot of options," he said. "What we heard from many countries is that they want to keep their options open."
Another AOSIS negotiator, Deputy Environment Minister of International Cooperation Milagros De Camps, said from the perspective of island nations like hers that face more frequent and powerful natural disasters like hurricanes and cyclones the need for a new dedicated compensation fund is clear.
"We need specific fund fit for purpose... a separate operating entity," she told reporters. "This is a matter of survival for small island developing states."
(Reuters)
Moglai Bap and Mo Chara of Kneecap perform at Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm in Pilton, Somerset, Britain, June 28, 2025. REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
Police may probe anti-Israel comments at Glastonbury
BRITISH police said they were considering whether to launch an investigation after performers at Glastonbury Festival made anti-Israel comments during their shows.
"We are aware of the comments made by acts on the West Holts Stage at Glastonbury Festival this afternoon," Avon and Somerset Police, in western England, said on X late on Saturday (28).
Irish hip-hop group Kneecap and punk duo Bob Vylan made anti-Israeli chants in separate shows on the West Holts stage on Saturday. One of the members of Bob Vylan chanted "Death, death, to the IDF" in a reference to the Israel Defense Forces.
"Video evidence will be assessed by officers to determine whether any offences may have been committed that would require a criminal investigation," the police statement said.
The Israeli Embassy in Britain said it was "deeply disturbed by the inflammatory and hateful rhetoric expressed on stage at the Glastonbury Festival".
Prime minister Keir Starmer said earlier this month it was "not appropriate" for Kneecap to appear at Glastonbury.
The band's frontman Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh was charged with a terrorism offence last month for allegedly displaying a flag in support of Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah at a concert in November. He has denied the charge.
A British government minister said it was appalling that the anti-Israel chants had been made at Glastonbury, and that the festival's organisers and the BBC broadcaster - which is showing the event - had questions to answer.
Health secretary Wes Streeting said he was also appalled by violence committed by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.
"I'd also say to the Israeli Embassy, get your own house in order in terms of the conduct of your own citizens and the settlers in the West Bank," Streeting told Sky News.
"I wish they'd take the violence of their own citizens towards Palestinians more seriously," he said.
(Reuters)