We will find a compromise that moves us in the right direction: US climate chief John Kerry on COP28 talks

There is a sense of “insanity or absurdity” among the renewable energy community, towards those who still opt for the “old-fashioned and dirty” energy options, said Mr Kerry in an interview with CNA.

All parties at the ongoing COP28 climate talks in Dubai agree on the threats posed by climate change, and the direction which must be taken to address them, said the United States’ Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry.

He was responding to a question on comments made by COP28 president Sultan Al Jaber on the science behind tackling fossil fuel emissions, in an interview with CNA’s Asia Now on Tuesday (Dec 5).

Mr Kerry added that there is a sense of “insanity or absurdity” among the renewable energy community, towards those who still opt for the “old-fashioned and dirty” energy options.

However, he is confident that parties at the ongoing COP28, the United Nations Climate Change Conference, will be able to come to a compromise that moves the world in the right direction.

“We have to do that because of the threats to the planet (and) to all of us, for food production, for water, for air quality (and) for our ability to guarantee that the next generation is going to be able to have forests and glaciers and so forth … all of these things are dependent on the decisions we make here and now,” he said.

“I'm confident we'll find a way forward. We have historically, and hopefully people come here in good faith in an effort to do that.”

Mr Kerry also highlighted the significant progress made in the creation of a loss and damage fund after it was first agreed in Egypt last year, and also hailed US-China cooperation in the climate space moving forward.

ON THE ROLE OF SCIENCE

Addressing Dr Jaber’s comments, Mr Kerry said the COP28 president had clarified what he meant, after a leaked video showed him declaring that no science says phasing out fossil fuel will achieve climate goals.

The Guardian newspaper had published a video showing Dr Jaber in an exchange with former Irish president Mary Robinson during the SHE Changes Climate online conference on Nov 21.

"I'm not in any way signing up to a discussion that is alarmist," he had said. "I am factual and I respect the science, and there is no science out there, or no scenario out there, that says that the phase-out of fossil fuels is what's going to achieve 1.5 (degrees)."

Mr Kerry told CNA’s Asia Now: “What I think all of us who work on this climate issue know is that the truth is that the science is focused on the emissions, and the science has said that we have to reduce 43 per cent of those emissions by 2030 and then get to net zero by 2050.”

He added that leaders like himself and Dr Jaber have embraced the notion that the Earth’s temperature increase has to be held to 1.5 degrees Celsius, and that they are committed to it.

“There will be, of course with 195 countries, different opinions (and) different thoughts about the pace (and) which technology first. What we've tried to do is allow countries to make their own choices, obviously,” he said.

“What we can do is put on the table the best choices, the options that will get the job done and grow people's economies, have clean energy, and move to this future that is really gonna be cleaner and healthier and safer than where we are today.”

FOSSIL FUEL-DEPENDENCE

Mr Kerry said that while the world is trying to reduce emissions from fossil fuel plants, some are still building power plants in ways that do not capture the emissions.

He said “there's a sense of insanity or absurdity in everybody around the world working to put out renewable energy (and) clean energy”, towards those who still pursue the “old-fashioned and dirty (and) actually life-taking” options.

Mr Kerry highlighted that such technology is harmful, as 8 million people around the world yearly die from poor quality of air, with that quality coming principally from coal emissions.

“We will find, I am confident, a compromise that moves us in the right direction here,” he said.

“When you have 195 countries coming to the negotiation, it's hard. But we will, I think, find a landing spot where everybody can agree, is going to move us forward and accelerate the transition to the clean energy economy.”

Mr Kerry noted that there are oil and gas companies which are transforming themselves into energy companies instead, and aiming to produce cleaner energy.

“Now if you can reduce all your emissions and you happen to be in fossil fuel, then obviously you can meet the test of what is necessary to continue forward, which is not making the emissions or capturing the emissions,” he said of the industries.

Mr Kerry noted that temperatures were 70 degrees Fahrenheit (21 degrees Celsius) above normal in the Arctic last summer and a hundred degrees Fahrenheit above normal in the Antarctic.

The floods, wildfires, mudslides, increasing intensity of storms and other “billion dollar climate events” around the world also show that it is even more urgent to act on climate change now, he added.

“We human beings have the privilege of being the only species on the planet that are allowed to think and be rational and make these choices. So let's be rational and let's get the job done by transitioning, not tomorrow, not in a year,” he said.

LOSS AND DAMAGE FUND

On the opening day of COP28, nations had agreed to the setting up of a new loss and damage fund, to be initially housed in the World Bank, which would disburse the funds.

More than US$400 million has been pledged collectively from sources including COP28 host the United Arab Emirates, the European Union and the United Kingdom. 

Loss and damage is the notion that the countries historically responsible for planet-warming emissions should financially help nations bearing the worst of the impacts.

“We worked very, very hard all through the summer and we supported the creation of a fund. And now we have this new fund, which is the Climate Impact and Response Fund,” said Mr Kerry.

“The terrible thing about what's happening on the planet today is that most of the emissions come from the developed world, and they are having, obviously, a great impact on more vulnerable countries in other parts of the world.”

Mr Kerry said the effort to create the fund is “quite remarkable”, with progress since it was first created in name at COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, last year.

He also highlighted the cooperation between the US and China in the climate space, since the meeting between both countries in Sunnylands, California, last month.

“At Sunnylands, we really had a great step forward because China and the United States agreed that all greenhouse gases will be made part of everybody's national plan for reduction of emissions,” he said.

“We also agreed for the first time that we are going to be able to deploy an increased amount of renewables, and we are doing it specifically to permit us to be able to reduce emissions earlier than it was going to happen.”

The two countries had also agreed to work together to move the COP28 talks forward “in a thoughtful way”, and to also focus on tackling methane emissions.

“We've met and talked with different people here at the COP, all of whom agree that we need to focus on methane. And now China's prepared to work with us to try to do that. They put out a national methane plan. It's a step forward and we will continue to work well after this COP,” he said.