Cop28: John Kerry says 'no' to US agreeing to pay climate reparations

US climate envoy made a distinction between reparations and the 'loss and damage' fund established at previous climate talks

John Kerry testifies before a House Foreign Affairs Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee hearing on Thursday. Reuters

The US will not commit to climate reparations at the Cop28 climate conference, US Special Envoy on Climate Change John Kerry said on Thursday.

Mr Kerry forcefully shut down questions at a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing on whether Washington would agree to climate reparations, where wealthier nations take accountability for and fund lower-income counterparts grappling with climate disasters.

“No. Under no circumstances,” Mr Kerry said when asked if the US would contribute to a fund that would pay countries that have been damaged by floods, storms and other climate-driven catastrophes.

“I'll let you create an exclamation point beside [the word 'no'], too,” he told the Republican chairman at the hearing on the State Department's climate budget.

About 3.3 billion to 3.6 billion people live in areas that are highly vulnerable to climate change. A 2022 report from Oxfam found that over the last 20 years, global funding needed for extreme weather events increased by 800 per cent.

At the 2022 Cop27 conference in Sharm El Sheikh, the US was among the countries agreeing to establish a “loss and damage” fund, paid for by wealthy nations, to support low-income countries that carry a disproportionate climate change burden compared to their emissions output.

Mr Kerry drew a line between that loss and damage fund and the notion of reparations, characterising the loss and damage fund as a humanitarian donation.

“I think our country is enriched, and our civilisation is better for the fact that we do try to help people out in other places when they're in trouble,” he added.

Cop28 President-designate Dr Sultan Al Jaber this year blamed wealthier nations’ failure to fulfil a long-standing, $100 billion-a-year commitment in climate finance assistance to developing countries, arguing that delay was “holding up” progress.

Dr Al Jaber pressed donor countries and demanded an assessment on the delay before the Cop28 climate summit in Dubai at the end of November.

“Expectations are very high. Trust is very low,” he told the Petersberg Climate Dialogues in Berlin.

One study on carbon inequalities from the University of Leeds found that Washington holds the “single largest climate debt” to these countries, at $2.6 trillion per year, on average, 15 per cent of its 2018 annual GDP.

Mr Kerry has previously expressed grievances over the idea of climate reparations.

Ahead of Cop27, he spoke at a forum with The New York Times and appeared annoyed with questions on whether the US would fund such a programme.

“In all honesty, the most important thing that we can do is stop, mitigate enough that we prevent loss and damage … you tell me the government in the world that has trillions of dollars, cause that’s what it costs,” Mr Kerry said in 2022.

At Thursday's hearing, he reiterated alarm over the “faster” impacts of climate change around the world, including the recent events of extreme weather that burdened much of the United States this week.

“We want to see a global raising of ambition. Everybody has to try to reduce emissions faster,” he said.

Mr Kerry is headed to Beijing this week for critical talks with China, the world's largest polluter, with aims to address the climate crisis “including with respect to increasing implementation and ambition and promoting a successful Cop28.”

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