What is loss and damage?

After a catastrophic climate year, expect to hear lots about loss and damage at Cop27, but what does it mean and why is it so contentious?

- Nina Lakhani

What is loss and damage?

It refers to the economic and non-economic costs of extreme weather events such as hurricanes, heatwaves, drought and wildfires, and slow onset climate disasters such as sea level rise and melting glaciers. It's about holding the biggest fossil fuel polluters liable for the suffering already caused by the climate crisis, separately and in addition to securing climate finance for mitigation and adaptation.

Economic costs include the lives, livelihoods, homes, food systems and territory irreversibly lost, while the harder to quantify non-economic costs refer to the loss of culture, identity, sovereignty, human dignity, biodiversity and psychological well-being.

Why are we talking about it now?