Scotland’s First Minister has stressed that international leaders should not let “the perfect be the enemy of the good” on the loss and damage fund deal.
The fund will tackle the impacts of climate change on the global south.
I'm delighted we had an agreement at Cop28 in relation to loss and damage yesterday, and let's not allow perfect to be the enemy of the good
Humza Yousaf
Speaking at the Scotland pavilion at the conference, as he introduced former US vice president and climate activist Al Gore to speak, Humza Yousaf said the conference should embrace the progress made by the fund.
“I’m delighted we had an agreement at Cop28 in relation to loss and damage yesterday, and let’s not allow perfect to be the enemy of the good,” the First Minister said.
“Because there is of course real concern from colleagues in the global south around some of what has been proposed but progress is absolutely important.”
Mr Yousaf went on to say loss and damage was an issue of “justice”.
“Why do I say justice? Because they have contributed the least to the climate crisis, but are suffering greatly as a result of it,” he said.
“Scotland is a country that benefited from industrialisation for decades, it’s important that we and other countries in the global north make sure that we are, in a just manner of course, make sure that we repair that damage.”
The First Minister went on to repeat his hopes for Scotland to move from being the “oil and gas capital of Europe to being the net zero capital, not just of Europe but the net zero capital of the world”.
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“I was very proud that Scotland became the first country in the global north to commit funding to loss and damage, and a couple of years on not only have we committed more funding, we’ve mobilised it, allocated it and managed to get some out of the door,” he said.
At the Glasgow summit, then first minister Nicola Sturgeon pledged £2 million, which was increased by £5 million the following year.
