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WASHINGTON, Dec 7 (Reuters) – U.S. climate envoy John Kerry on Wednesday welcomed a decision to hold next year’s COP28 climate summit in the United Arab Emirates, an OPEC member, saying fossil fuel economies should be encouraged to lead the way towards clean energy Transition.
The next U.N. climate conference will be held in oil and gas drilling countries in late November, raising concerns among some climate activists that it could hinder the world’s transition away from fossil fuels.
“I think it’s very exciting that the UAE will host the COP, and it’s very important for an oil and gas producer to come forward and say we understand the challenges of the climate crisis,” Kerry told Reuters in an interview.
“They’re very smart because they know that what comes out of the ground isn’t going to last forever, physically or politically, and they’re look at the new world will look like. If new forms of energy are to emerge, they want to be one of the providers of energy, as they are today. “
Kerry said this year’s COP27 meeting, held in Egypt last month, brought the world closer to the goal of the 2015 Paris agreement to limit the rise in global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times, even as countries grapple with the fallout Russia News of the invasion of Ukraine.
He was pleased with the announcement of 30 upgraded national climate plans and the summit’s major agreement on “loss and damage” to help vulnerable countries pay the costs of climate-driven extreme weather and sea level rise, which US support Agreement reached after past resistance.
Some governments and environmental groups have criticized COP27, saying the agreement is too moderate to effectively tackle climate change while failing to call for a phase-out of fossil fuels.
Kerry touts announcement of $20 billion investment Public and private funding to help Indonesia Transition from coal. Kerry said he planned to visit Vietnam again “in the near future”, which is negotiating similar arrangements with the United States and G7 partners.
The former secretary of state tested positive for COVID-19 late in the second week of the summit in Egypt, forcing him to spend the final 48 hours negotiating by phone rather than in person. He said his illness interrupted what he hoped was a joint U.S.-China declaration to reduce methane emissions from the world’s two largest emitters of the greenhouse gas.
“We ran out of time, and then I got sick,” Kerry said. “That just ends our ability to pursue something in the last days.”
He said he expected in the coming months that the two would “continue this dialogue that has been interrupted for months over the Taiwan dispute.”
Xie Zhenhua, China’s chief climate diplomat, during the summit attend ministerial meetings At the invitation of Kerry, outlined China’s overall strategy to reduce methane emissions. But he did not join an international pledge to reduce it by 30% this decade.
“I think he’s making an important contribution by talking about China knowing what it needs to do with methane, and we’re waiting to see their full plan,” Kerry said.
Reporting by Valerie Volkovich; Editing by David Gregorio
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