The trillions of dollars in fossil fuel subsidies are “the very definition of insanity,” John Kerry, the US envoy to the Glasgow climate conference, said on Friday.
Trillions of dollars of these grants “have been spent over the past five or six years. This is the very definition of madness, ”he told all the delegations gathered on the last official day of COP26.
These remarks come at a time when the last draft final declaration of this COP on the table calls on States to limit “inefficient” financing of fossil fuels and no longer to accelerate towards the exit of all financing, as in the previous version.
“We are the world’s largest producer of oil and gas. We participate in these grants, ”noted John Kerry. “These subsidies must stop. “
More generally, he stressed that the risk linked to global warming is “existential”.
“For many of you, it’s not existential in the future, it’s existential now. People are dying today, ”he added as developing countries denounce insufficient amounts intended to help them cope with the impacts of climate change.
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