The United States’ special envoy for climate change, John Kerry, said on Friday (5) that the objective of developed countries to mobilize US$ 100 billion annually will be reached as early as 2022, a year earlier than expected at the beginning of the 26th United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP26).
In a press conference at COP26, in Glasgow, Kerry explained that with the US$ 2 billion announced by Japan, which will unlock another US$ 8 billion in private investment, the objective enshrined in the Paris Agreement (2015) will be achieved, but that it should already be have been hit last year.
“People are convinced that we have to change. Having participated in many COPs, there is a greater sense of urgency here. I have never seen in the early days of a COP so many initiatives and so much real money on the table, even if there are legitimate questions about some of that money, which I understand,” he told the press.
In a moderately optimistic tone, the US climate representative indicated that there is “genuine progress”, but at the same time recalled that “the job is not done”.
“In April, only a few countries were looking to (limit warming to) 1.5 degrees. Currently, most G20 countries have real plans in their Nationally Determined Contributions that will keep the 1.5 degree target alive. This changes everything,” he added.
Kerry said that, according to the International Energy Agency, with current commitments, the world is on track to hit a threshold 1.8 degrees above pre-industrial levels by the end of the century.
According to him, negotiations between countries are moving towards a “strong and implementable communiqué, and this is the key, that words are nothing if they cannot be turned into action”. “What’s happening here is not the usual thing,” he noted.
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