Rich countries agreed to establish a “loss and damage” fund at the close of the two-week-long U.N. climate summit in Egypt to help the Global South deal with the worst effects of the climate catastrophe. The fund is a major breakthrough for Global South countries, which have been demanding a similar mechanism for the past 30 years but faced opposition from the United States and other large polluting nations. Climate justice activist Asad Rehman says the fund is a “glimmer of hope” despite the summit ending with a massive expansion of carbon markets and delegates making “no progress” to phase out fossil fuels.

This post was originally published on Democracy Now!.