The prospective contribution of vast sums of American taxpayer dollars to a de facto international “climate reparations” fund would have negligible impact on climate change and is unlikely to materialize beyond discussions, energy experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Environmentalists and officials from underdeveloped countries have called for a so-called “climate losses and damages fund,” which would have countries that have historically emitted high levels of greenhouse gases, like the U.S., route huge sums of money through international institutions to compensate developing and poor countries for the perceived effects of climate change, according to Axios. Delegates heeded the calls of environmentalists at the last United Nations (UN) climate conference in 2022 and agreed in principle to establishing a “climate losses and damages fund,” but limited progress has been made toward realizing that pledge as this year’s conference, known as COP28, draws closer on the calendar, and experts say a finalized agreement on the program is unlikely to be reached at COP28.
Despite the agreement to eventually establish a fund, there is currently an impasse over what shape it should take, according to Axios. The U.S. has suggested that the World Bank should assume responsibility for administering it, but representatives of some developing countries disagree strongly, suspecting that American influence over the institution would allow for it to be gamed in a way that might allow the U.S. to sidestep or otherwise evade whatever concrete commitments it may make.
“I have to hand it to them: they keep coming up with new and clever ways to redistribute wealth,” Tom Pyle, president of the American Energy Alliance, told the DCNF of calls for the U.S. to contribute substantially to the fund, an idea which he called “frivolous and fantastical.” The Biden administration “will bend over backwards to create the appearance that this is a priority for them, but the reality is that Congress will never appropriate a dime for this, even if the Democrats somehow managed to control both chambers” of the legislature, he added.
Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry has rejected the notion that such a fund would amount to a form of climate reparations, and he has indicated that finalizing the creation of a “climate losses and damages fund” is a priority issue for him going into COP28, according to Climate Change News. “How can you look somebody in the eye, with a straight face, and not accept the notion that there are damages, there are losses? We see them all around the world,” Kerry told The Guardian in a January interview.
“American families and businesses are already paying too much for energy because of the Biden administration’s ‘America Last’ policies,” Dan Kish, a senior research fellow for the Institute for Energy Research, told the DCNF. “Forking over billions to third world kleptocracies so they can stuff their Swiss bank accounts with taxpayer money will repulse most Americans,” he continued, adding that “impoverishing Americans to make people around the world stay poor is a plan only John Kerry could support.”
American delegates are attempting to walk a fine line between furthering the fund’s creation and stopping short of possibly exposing the U.S. to legal liability for its historical greenhouse gas emissions, according to Axios.
“The eyes of the world are on you to deliver clear, clean and strong recommendations ahead of COP28 to operationalize the Loss and Damage Fund and funding arrangements, so it can be activated and capitalized soon after,” Sultan Al Jaber, who is set to chair COP28 in the United Arab Emirates, recently told the negotiating committee regarding the impasse in talks, according to Axios.
The outcome of the negotiations regarding the fund’s structure could have a major impact over the outcome of other key issues to be discussed at COP 28 given its outsized importance in establishing trust between the developed and developing worlds, according to Axios.
