U.S. climate envoy Kerry launches carbon offset plan meant to help developing countries speed their transition away from fossil fuels.
U.S. climate envoy John Kerry on Wednesday revealed the creation of a carbon offset plan meant to help developing countries speed their transition away from fossil fuels.
Kerry launched the Energy Transition Accelerator (ETA) with the intention of funding renewable energy projects and accelerating clean energy transitions in developing countries.
The United States will design the program with the Bezos Earth Fund and Rockefeller Foundation, with input from the public and private sectors which would operate through 2030 and perhaps be extended to 2035.
U.S. climate envoy said Chile and Nigeria were among the developing countries to have shown early interest in the ETA, and that Bank of America, Microsoft, PepsiCo, and Standard Chartered Bank had voiced interest in “informing the ETA’s development”.
“Our intention is to put the carbon market to work to deploy capital to speed the transition from dirty to clean power specifically, to retire unabated coal-fired power and accelerate the buildout of renewables,” he said at the event launch on Wednesday.
Kerry said that the carbon credits used in the program would be “high quality” and meet “strong safeguards”.The U.S. climate envoy admitted huge criticism of voluntary carbon offset schemes raised by environmental groups and a task force created by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, which on Tuesday suggested that carbon credits be used sparingly by companies and governments to avoid undermining their net-zero emission plans.
Kerry said Guterres was supportive of the U.S.-led carbon market initiative provided there were safeguards to it.
The two had met earlier on Wednesday at the COP27 climate summit in Egypt.
Environmental groups panned the initiative, saying that the scheme would delay real efforts to slash emissions.
In April 2021, Kerry said the Biden administration needs to get focused on the creation of a “new economy,” which will provide extraordinary jobs, better health to people with less cancer from fewer particulates in the air, and greater security for the nation and the world.
