U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry
COP27 Closing Statement
In Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt
November 20, 2022
We extend our thanks to the Egyptian presidency, and to all the Egyptian people, for the incredible work of hosting COP27 and for their very warm welcome here in Sharm el-Sheikh – a remarkable place that radiates both the wonder and the fragility of our one common home, this magnificent planet Earth.
Almost two years ago this very week, President-elect Biden asked me to be his special envoy for climate. It was a perilous moment. The world was rushing toward climate chaos. Any hope of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius was slipping further and further away.
We’ve been sprinting to make up for lost time ever since – starting on day one, when President Biden rejoined the Paris Agreement, and with our updated nationally determined contribution. It’s been full steam ahead to confront the climate crisis – both at home, and in partnership around the world.
One year ago, we left COP26 in Glasgow with nations representing 65 percent of global GDP committed to 2030 targets in line with 1.5℃. The International Energy Agency calculated that if all the commitments and initiatives put forward by Glasgow were fully implemented, we could limit warming to 1.8 degrees.
One year later, as we depart Sharm el-Sheikh, the IEA now tells us that if the new commitments and actions announced here are fully implemented, we can limit warming to 1.7 degrees. That’s a journey – from well over 2 degrees to 1.8 to now 1.7 – that we can be proud of, even as we recognize we are just getting started. But make no mistake: we have kept the hope of 1.5 alive. How? By implementing real projects and deploying real dollars to accelerate the energy transition, which enables us to further enhance global ambition.
Over the course of this year, more than 30 countries have heeded the call from Glasgow and strengthened their 2030 targets. In Australia, a new government elected with a climate mandate committed to a 1.5-aligned target. We’ve seen an energetic presence here in Sharm el-Sheikh from Brazil’s incoming administration, which is committed to climate action. In other words, two of the planet’s biggest outliers this year have become global leaders.
They’re not alone. Last week, Foreign Secretary Ebrard flew here to announce that Mexico is significantly strengthening its 2030 target and plans to double its renewable energy capacity in order to meet it. Alongside the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia committed to peak its power sector emissions seven years earlier, by 2030, with a goal of net zero by 2050. Our host country, Egypt, committed to strengthen its 2030 target and quadruple its renewable energy capacity.
For our part, as President Biden underscored in his address here last week, the Inflation Reduction Act puts the United States firmly on track to meeting our ambitious goal of reducing emissions 50 to 52 percent below 2005 levels in 2030.
What’s more, our historic investments in clean energy and infrastructure will help countries deliver stronger climate ambition anywhere by driving down the cost of clean technologies everywhere.
We are partnering with nations on an array of initiatives to drive action in this critical decade.
150 countries – fully three-quarters of the nations of the world – have now joined us in the Global Methane Pledge, to slash global methane emissions 30 percent by 2030. Over 95 percent of countries will include methane in their 2030 NDC targets. Tackling methane is the fastest, most effective way to reduce near-term warming and keep 1.5℃ within reach.
Along with Ghana, the United States is co-chairing the new Forest and Climate Leaders’ Partnership, which will make Glasgow’s forest declaration a reality. By halting and reversing forest loss and land degradation, we can deliver up to 30 percent of the emissions reductions needed to meet our Paris goals.
Along with Norway, we launched the Green Shipping Challenge, with countries, ports, and companies announcing more than 40 major steps aimed at decarbonizing international shipping.
Along with other countries, we launched the Global Fertilizer Challenge, together committing $135 million to help low- and middle-income countries cope with the global fertilizer shortages exacerbated by Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. The result will be both lower emissions and increased food security.
Working with governments and the private sector, we are accelerating the technologies needed to reach net zero, from hydrogen to biomass.
Our First Movers Coalition now includes 65 companies committing $12 billion toward zero-emission shipping and trucking and the purchase of clean steel, aluminum, cement, and aviation fuels.
We are partnering with Ukraine to demonstrate the use of advanced nuclear technology to produce clean hydrogen and ammonia; and with other countries in Central and Eastern Europe to convert coal-fired power plants to small modular nuclear reactors.
Michael Bloomberg joined me in announcing the launch of SCALE, the Subnational Climate Action Leaders’ Exchange, which will help cities, states and regions reach net zero and strengthen their climate resilience.
Working with Amazon, we launched a new Climate Gender Equity Fund to help women-led organizations in developing countries deliver climate solutions. Working with Conservation International, we launched the Indigenous Peoples Finance Access Facility to help Indigenous peoples and local communities more readily access climate finance.
We also highlighted the key role of ocean-based climate. We announced the first slate of countries – 16 altogether – to endorse the Ocean Conservation Pledge, with commitments to conserve or protect at least 30 percent of ocean waters under their jurisdictions by 2030.
Each of these new country commitments – each of these partnerships – brings us a step closer to keeping 1.5℃ within reach.
Coming out of Glasgow, it was 1.8. Coming out of Sharm, it is 1.7. And in the all too real world of climate science, that math matters when you focus on the faces of the fractions: every tenth of a degree of warming averted means less drought, less flooding, less sea-level rise, less extreme weather. It means lives saved and losses avoided.
Fulfilling these commitments, of course, requires finance, and the United States and our partner governments are stepping up.
Indonesia’s new commitment to an accelerated clean energy transition was made possible because the United States and partner countries have pledged $10 billion through a Just Energy Transition Partnership that will leverage an additional $10 billion in private finance.
Egypt’s new commitment to shut down natural gas plants and scale up renewables was made possible because Germany and the United States committed $250 million to support Egypt’s Country Platform for the Nexus of Food, Water, and Energy – or NWFE. Our support will help unlock $10 billion in commercial investments.
And global philanthropies have pledged half a billion dollars to replicate these energy transition models around the world – driving enhanced implementation and enhanced ambition.
Contributor countries and public funds can’t do the job alone. We need a massive infusion of private capital.
That is why the United States, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Bezos Earth Fund have introduced the concept of an Energy Transition Accelerator to catalyze private capital that will speed the transition from dirty to clean power in developing countries. Over the coming year, we’ll engage with governments, companies, and civil society – all the relevant stakeholders – to build in strong guardrails ensuring both a just transition and full environmental integrity.
As we work to reduce emissions and avert the consequences of runaway warming, we also must help vulnerable countries cope with the impacts they are experiencing today and will in the future.
Last week, President Biden took major new steps under his Emergency Plan for Adaptation and Resilience, which aims to help more than half a billion people in developing countries adapt to and manage the impacts of climate change.
The President announced a doubling of our pledge to the Adaptation Fund to $100 million. He also announced more than $150 million in new funding to accelerate adaptation efforts across Africa, resources that will help expand early warning…
Read More:U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry – COP27 Closing Statement