There are many terrible sides to the climate crisis, but one of the most distressing is that it is hitting hardest those countries that are least responsible for it. Pakistan is responsible for only a fraction of global emissions, but the climate crisis led to more than a third of the country being flooded last year. The water had not yet fully receded when Sherry Rehman arrived in Egypt for COP27, the U.N. climate summit, in November. There, as Pakistan’s Minister for Climate Change, she gave a voice to those who had lost everything to the floods. Through impassioned speeches and tireless engagement in negotiations, she convinced many of the delegates that the blatant injustice must come to an end. COP27 ended with a historic decision—the world community agreed for the first time to establish new loss and damage funding arrangements to support the most vulnerable countries. This is a big step toward climate justice, but we still have a long way to go. We will need more people like Sherry Rehman along the way.
Morgan is Germany’s state secretary and special envoy for international climate action
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