COP28 President Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber (center) attends the opening session at the COP28 UN Climate Summit, Nov 30, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (PHOTO / AP)

DUBAI - The UN climate change conference on Thursday operationalized a fund to support the world's particularly vulnerable countries in their efforts to cope with the loss and damage caused by climate change.

This decisive action on the Loss and Damage Fund marks a breakthrough on the first day of the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP28) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change held in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.

COP28 President Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber said the Fund will support "billions of people, lives, and livelihoods particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change."

Several countries, led by the UAE, made their financial commitments to the fund, with the UAE contributing $100 million, Germany, $100 million, Britain, 40 million pounds (about $50.6 million) and 20 million pounds for other arrangements, Japan, $10 million, and the United States, $17.5 million.

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In a statement published on the COP28 website, COP28 President Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber said the Fund will support "billions of people, lives, and livelihoods particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change."

It added that the parties will now turn their focus on the strongest possible response to the Global Stocktake, the world's report card on progress toward the goals of the Paris Agreement.

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As UN climate change conference started, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called 2023 the hottest year on record.

The Loss and Damage Fund, established at COP27 in Egypt in 2022, has been a long-standing demand of developing nations coping with the cost of the devastation caused by ever-increasing extreme weather events such as droughts, floods, and rising sea levels.