John Kerry, President Biden’s climate envoy, has agreed to discuss the idea of financing for loss and damage at the climate conference, but the United States has not agreed to a new fund.
“We are anxious to see the loss and damage issue dealt with upfront and in a real way at the COP,” a spokesman for Mr. Kerry said as the conference began. “We anticipate that it will be an agenda item, and we’re perfectly comfortable helping it to be that — which means, at some point, you’ve got to have an outcome.”
Still, no strategy was offered on Tuesday by the United States delegation. Instead, Mr. Kerry plans to unveil on Wednesday a new plan designed to get big corporations to purchase carbon offsets — essentially, credits for their greenhouse gas pollution. The money would go toward driving down emissions in developing nations by retiring fossil fuel plants, creating renewable energy and building resilience to climate effects.
The initiative has been met with skepticism from some European nations as well as members of the U.N. secretary general’s staff, because they felt the plan lacked details and was being rushed, according to multiple people familiar with the discussions.
Some of the most influential environmental groups in the United States who were briefed by the State Department on the strategy, including the Natural Resources Defense Council and the World Resources Institute, also do not support the plan because they fear it could actually undermine efforts to drive down global emissions to zero, activists said.