House Foreign Affairs Committee

Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee

The State Department’s Climate Agenda: A Budget Overview by the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate

HVC 210 Capitol Visitor Center
Thu, 13 Jul 2023 14:00:00 GMT

Subcommittee hearing on the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate.

Subcommittee chair: Brian Mast (R-Fla.)

Ranking member: Jason Crow (D-Colo.)

Witness:
  • John Kerry, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, U.S. Department of State
Under questioning from Rep. Mast, Kerry said that “under no circumstances” would the United States support a loss and damage fund at COP 28.
MAST: Are you planning to commit America to ‘climate reparations’, that is to say we have to pay some other country because they had a flood, or they had a hurricane, or a typhoon, or a wildfire?

KERRY: No. Under no circumstances.

MAST: Very good. I’m glad to hear you say that. I do have a “no”, I’ll put it up there.

KERRY: Why don’t you create an exclamation point beside it?

MAST: I will write in an exclamation point for you. And I’m glad that we have agreement on that.

[The exchange begins at 56:05 in the above recording.]