US climate envoy John Kerry announced Wednesday the creation of a carbon offset plan to help developing countries accelerate their energy 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 develop the program with the Bezos Earth Fund and the Rockefeller Foundation, with public and private sector contributions that would operate through 2030 and possibly extend to 2035.
Kerry said that Chile and Nigeria are among the developing countries that have shown early interest in ETA, and that Bank of America, Microsoft, PepsiCo and Standard Chartered Bank have expressed interest.
“Our intention is to put the carbon market to work to employ capital to accelerate the transition from dirty energy to clean energy specifically, to retire coal-fired uninterrupted power and accelerate the construction of renewables,” he said at the launch event on Wednesday. -fair.
Kerry added that the carbon credits used in the program will be of “high quality” and meet “strong safeguards.”
The US climate envoy acknowledged widespread criticism of voluntary carbon offset schemes raised by environmental groups and a task force created by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, which on Tuesday recommended that carbon credits be used sparingly by companies and governments to avoid undermining their net zero emission plans.
Kerry said Guterres supports the US-led carbon market initiative as long as there are safeguards for it.
Environmental groups have criticized the initiative, saying the scheme will delay real efforts to reduce emissions.
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