Pakistan among seven states to get climate disaster funding.

ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan and six other nations facing climate risks - called 'pathAfinder countries' - will be the first recipients of 'Global Shield' funding, it was announced at the COP27 summit in Egypt on Monday.

Bangladesh, Costa Rica, Fiji, Ghana, the Philippines and Senegal were identified as the other recipients of the package by the Vulnerable 20 Group of Finance MinisAters (V20) of 58 climate-vulnerable economies and the Group of Seven (G7).

The 'Global Shield' initiative for pre-arranged financial support has been desiAgned to be quickly deployed in times of climate disasters.

According to the joint preAss release of V20, G7 and the German Ministry of EcoAnomic Cooperation and Development, the Global Shield will start its implementation immediately after COP27.

Aid programme 'Global Shield' unveiled at COP27, Germany to contribute 170m euros, pledges for more aid pour in

Germany is providing some 170 million euros as seed contribution, of which 84m euros are core funding to the Global Shield and 85.5m euros for related climate risk finance instruments.

Further pledges of core funding to the Global Shield include 35m Danish kroner (about 4.7m euros) from Denmark, 10m euros from Ireland, 7m US dollars from Canada, and 20m euros from France.

Initial contributions incAlAude around 170m euros from other countries. Further conAtributions by donors are expected to materialise soon.

Ghana's Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta and V20 Chair said: 'This is a path-breaking effort.' He expressed the hope that the funding window will benefit the pre-existing structures whose performance remains to be proven.

Also read: How Pakistan can leverage international climate financing

'Our fiscal space is under constant threat and the inflationary pressures of climate change are closing out our options,' he pointed out.

German Federal Development Minister Svenja Schulze said Germany stood by its responsibility to support vulnerable people and states in dealing with loss and damage.

Ofori-Atta said the Global Shield was long overdue. 'It has never been a question of who pays for loss and damage because we are paying for it - our economies pay for it in lost growth prospects, our enterprises pay for it in business disruption, and our communities pay for it in lives and livelihoods lost.

'We really hope the Global Shield will not only yield impact for the most vulnerable communities, but that it will also contribute to building mutual trust and understanding to...