John Kerry’s proposal to invest substantial sums of American taxpayer money into a “climate reparations” plan is receiving criticism from energy experts who argue it will have little impact on the environment. Kerry, the climate czar for President Joe Biden, is advocating for billions of U.S. tax dollars to be allocated to the scheme with the aim of combating global warming. However, experts suggest that the funds will primarily support discussions related to the global green agenda.
Underdeveloped countries, alongside green agenda officials, have proposed the establishment of a “climate losses and damages fund.” This initiative would involve taxpayers from Western nations, particularly those historically responsible for high greenhouse gas emissions like the United States, channeling significant amounts of money through unelected global organizations to compensate developing and impoverished nations for perceived climate change impacts.
The concept of creating a “climate losses and damages fund” was agreed upon in principle during the last United Nations climate conference in 2022. However, making tangible progress towards its realization has been slow, and the upcoming COP28 conference is unlikely to witness a finalized agreement.
There is a dispute over who should administer the fund. The U.S. has suggested the World Bank, which has faced opposition from representatives of some developing countries. Concerns have arisen that American influence over the World Bank could potentially be exploited to bypass concrete commitments.
Notably, China, officially categorized as a “developing country” by the United Nations, may not be mandated to contribute to the fund, despite being the world’s second-largest economy and a significant greenhouse gas emitter. In 2022, China surpassed the combined emissions of the top five polluting countries, further fueling debate over equitable responsibilities.
“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 Daily Caller.
Pyle said that the push for the U.S. to contribute substantially to the fund is an idea that’s “frivolous and fantastical.”
The Biden administration is making efforts to give the impression that this is a priority for them, but it is unlikely that Congress will allocate any funding for it, even if the Democrats were to gain control of both chambers, a political observer noted.
John Kerry, the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, has dismissed the idea that establishing a “climate losses and damages fund” would serve as a form of climate reparations. As reported by Climate Change News, Kerry has emphasized that pushing forward with the creation of such a fund is a top priority for him as COP28 approaches.
“How can you look somebody in the eye, with a straight face, and not accept the notion that there are damages, there are losses?” Kerry told The Guardian in a January interview.
“We see them all around the world.”
Kerry didn’t provide any evidence of the “damages” and “losses” he claims are visible “around the world,” however.
“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 Caller.
“Forking over billions to third-world kleptocracies so they can stuff their Swiss bank accounts with taxpayer money will repulse most Americans,” he continued.
Kish added that “impoverishing Americans to make people around the world stay poor is a plan only John Kerry could support.”
U.S. representatives are treading cautiously in their efforts to advance the fund’s establishment, balancing their commitment with concerns about potential legal liabilities stemming from historical greenhouse gas emissions, as reported by Axios.
Sultan Al Jaber, designated to chair COP28 in the United Arab Emirates, is a strong advocate for the climate reparations fund.
“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,” Al Jaber recently told the negotiating committee regarding the impasse in talks, according to Axios.
“It’s no surprise to watch climate zealots fight over who holds the checkbook because grifting taxpayer dollars is the foundation of sand on which the green agenda thrives,” Larry Behrens, communications director for Power the Future, an energy policy advocacy group, told the Daily Caller.
“Leftist politicians like Joe Biden and John Kerry have thrown open the cash vault for their climate failures here at home, and they shouldn’t be shocked that the rest of the world wants their cut too,” he continued.
“These climate reparations are nothing more than a global shakedown orchestrated by those who live under the fallacy that money changes weather.”
