President Joe Biden used a keynote speech at the UN's COP 27 climate conference to take aim at Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying that Moscow's war in Ukranian must not affect global efforts to combat climate change.
Speaking in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, Biden said that no country can use energy as a weapon and hold the global economy hostage.
We need to double down on our climate commitments. Russia's war only makes the need to transition the world off of fossil fuels more urgent.
The president outlined how the U.S. will meet the climate crisis with "urgency and determination."
A $500 million fund was formed in collaboration with the European Union and Germany to facilitate Egypt's transition to clean energy.
As a down payment, we are announcing more than $150 million in initiatives that support readiness and adaptation in Africa. Climate finance, disaster risk protection, food security and the private sector are some of the initiatives that are included.
The U.S. will meet its emissions targets by the year 2030.
The announcement didn't include a commitment to compensate countries most affected by climate change.
The issue of reparations, or "loss and damage" funding, has taken center stage at the COP 27 summit.
After 48 hours of talks spearheaded by Pakistan, the hot-button issue was formally adopted onto the agenda for the first time at the opening of the COP 27 climate summit on Sunday.
Pakistan's foreign minister told CNBC Tuesday that catastrophic floods that submerged one-third of the country earlier this year reinforced the need for wealthy countries to deliver on their promises.
He warned that this is not going to stop at Pakistan. There should be something available for the next country that has been affected.
There is no credible pathway in place to cap global warming at the critical temperature threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius according to a flurry of major U.N. reports.
It's not clear how far the commitment will go to make up for past wrongs.
Most of the small European countries have committed funds. According to experts, hundreds of billions of dollars are needed each year to help communities repair and rebuild after disasters.
Wealthy nations have long opposed the creation of a fund to address loss and damage and policymakers fear that accepting liability could cause a wave of lawsuits by countries on the frontlines of the climate emergency
John Kerry, the U.S. climate envoy, has previously said that the U.S. wouldn't compensate countries for the damage they have suffered from the climate emergency. He said on Wednesday that Washington wouldn't bestructing talks on loss and damage.
Developing countries could raise finance by selling carbon offsets to U.S. companies.
The removal or reduction of greenhouse gases is referred to as carbon offsetting.
Critics of the concept say it can aid greenwashing and allow companies to delay their own decarbonization efforts.
Sam was a contributor to this report.
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