US will not pay into 'loss and damage' fund: Kerry

The United States will not pay into a global fund being developed aimed at delivering financing to places affected by climate-fuelled disasters, John Kerry, the US special envoy on climate change, told a Congressional hearing on Thursday.

Kerry, the former secretary of state, testified before a House foreign affairs oversight committee about the State Department's climate agenda and was asked whether the US would pay into a fund that would pay countries that have been damaged by floods, storms and other climate-driven disasters.

"No, under no circumstances,' Kerry said in response to a query by House foreign affairs oversight subcommittee chairman Brian Mast about paying climate "reparations."

Agreement to establish a "loss and damage" fund was secured at COP27 in Egypt last November, but the deal did not spell out who would pay into the fund or how money would be disbursed.