Wallonia will provide one million euros of specific and unprecedented support to enable the most vulnerable countries to cope with the harm and damages associated with climate change, Walloon Climate Minister Philip Henry announced on Saturday in the context of COP26 in Glasgow. The topic of loss and damage is central to the conversation at COP26, which plays overtime in Scotland on Saturday. It deals with damage, if necessary irreversible, caused by climate change, beyond a country’s ability to adapt. Countries in the north are reluctant to engage too much on the issue, fearing the establishment of a third pillar of international climate finance (after mitigation and adaptation), which multiplies legal actions to gain damages.

At the start of COP26, Scotland, through its Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon, made an unexpected announcement of one million pounds (about 1.2 million euros) to finance losses and damages to the countries of the south. A surprising and original announcement.

So this Saturday, it is up to Wallonia to follow in Scotland’s footsteps, putting a million euros on the table of losses and damages in return. “This is an important gesture, in sync with the similar commitment of the Scottish Government. The modalities of the implementation will be coordinated between the two climate ministers of these regions”, explains the Belga agency Walloon minister, who discussed the aspects of damages and losses. But had rightly participated in the conversation at COP26.