Fair Cop27? Where did Peter Dutton’s figure of $2tn for climate damage fund come from? |

In the wake of the UN climate talks in Egypt, the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, gave birth to a new factoid in a question to the prime minister this week.

The government, Dutton claimed, “has just signed up to funding a $2tn loss and damage climate fund” that would send money overseas.

“Prime minister, doesn’t charity begin at home?” said Dutton.

The eye-watering $2tn figure was also used by Sky News Australia presenter Chris Kenny.

Except the fund does not yet exist and the opposition leader’s office did not respond to questions about where the $2tn figure had come from.

Prof Jacqueline Peel, an expert on international climate policy at the University of Melbourne, said it “was incorrect on many levels” to refer to a fund when it didn’t exist yet.

Temperature Check sent emails and left messages with Dutton’s office asking where the $2tn figure had come from, but did not receive a response.

So let’s back up a little. What was decided at the UN climate talks in Egypt?

Storms, floods, droughts, heatwaves and rising oceans – all made worse by the climate crisis…