"U.S. Groups Urge Kerry To Back Climate Compensation Fund"

"WASHINGTON - Over 100 U.S. environmental groups on Monday urged top U.S. climate diplomat John Kerry to support the creation of a fund that would compensate countries that have experienced economic and physical loss from climate change, a key demand of vulnerable countries at the upcoming COP27 climate summit in Egypt.

The letter, signed by groups that include the Sierra Club and Greenpeace USA, says the world's second biggest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions is responsible for nearly a quarter of global cumulative greenhouse gas emissions since the Industrial Revolution and has a responsibility to address loss and damage.

The United States and European Union, the world's third-biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, are facing pressure from lower-income nations to soften their long-standing resistance to compensation for the "loss and damage" wrought by floods, rising seas and other climate change-fueled impacts.

"The U.S.’s negotiating posture on loss and damage has been recalcitrant, creating a major obstacle to meeting the urgent needs of climate vulnerable countries and causing great harm to our nation’s reputation on the world stage," the groups wrote in the letter."

Valerie Volcovici reports for Reuters October 25, 2022.

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Source: Reuters, 10/26/2022