The United States will not compensate under any circumstances
Today, on July 24th, the Russian television website published an article titled "The United States owes climate compensation to other countries in the world" by Bradley Blankenshipp. The article excerpt is as follows:
John Kerry, the US President's special envoy on climate change, recently visited Beijing and held talks with his Chinese counterparts on addressing climate change issues. Undoubtedly, the Chinese side cherishes the opportunity for dialogue in such a poor relationship between the two countries, but the US side has always been more aggressive.
To cater to Republicans, Kerry stated that the United States will not provide compensation to the poorest countries most severely affected by climate change under any circumstances. However, there are some key reasons to explain why this is a complete moral corruption, which is not conducive to US diplomatic negotiations, and it is still a wrong political strategy.
Firstly, so far, the United States is the country with the highest greenhouse gas emissions in global history. Since 1751, the United States has emitted approximately 400 billion tons of carbon dioxide, accounting for 25% of global anthropogenic emissions. This fact itself indicates that the United States bears an unparalleled responsibility towards poor countries.
▲ Information image: John Kerry, the US President's climate envoy
The United States is also dragging its feet on climate issues. The Biden administration has announced plans to achieve carbon neutrality in the United States by 2050, but there are some constraints. Firstly, the Supreme Court has clearly stated that the powers of regulatory agencies are limited and must be clearly defined by Congress within their scope of authority. This means that before 2050, Congress needs to pass a carbon neutrality plan and continue to provide funding for it, and whoever becomes president needs to sign these bills. But this can never happen.
In contrast, China has made specific commitments to strive for carbon peak before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060. Chinese officials are setting goals and achieving them. However, despite China's achievements, Washington is still attempting to restrict Beijing's green industry through sanctions, and even The New York Times admitted this week that sanctions are a completely failed strategy for the world and the United States. The United States needs to send a consistent message on cooperation in addressing climate change and stop blaming China.
It is worth mentioning that by excluding the possibility of climate compensation, the United States has abandoned the claims of two important documents. Firstly, it violates the agreement of the 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change regarding the "Loss and Damage" Fund; It also violates the Glasgow Joint Declaration between China and the United States on Strengthening Climate Action in the 2021.
Obviously, no one can trust the person who signs the document and doesn't fulfill the promise of the document. Dealing with climate change should be an unquestionable area of cooperation. For the United States, expanding competition to address climate change is not only unhelpful but also a waste of time. This is the worst intentional deceptive behavior.
