New pledges expected at UN climate talks: Kerry

The opening days of the upcoming UN climate talks will include a number of new commitments from countries to take more action to reduce emissions and support global decarbonization, US climate envoy John Kerry said today.

The US has been working with a number of countries to roll out new commitments at the upcoming UN Cop 27 climate talks in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, ranging from more aggressive climate pledges to agreements to build new renewable energy resources, Kerry said during a State Department briefing.

"We have spent a great deal of time over this past year working with countries around the world to get them to raise their NDCs," Kerry said, referring to the nationally determined contributions (NDC), or pledges, under the Paris Climate Agreement.

Kerry said a number of countries will announce new pledges in coming days, including Mexico, which previously said it is working on an update to its NDC, while more announcements around private sector pledges, deforestation and methane reductions are in the works. The UN conference runs from 6-18 November.

The US has also been working with countries including South Africa and India on new energy transition partnerships , which will be announced at the Cop, Kerry said.

At least year's talks in Glasgow, Scotland, Germany, the UK, the US, France and the EU agreed to support South Africa's energy transition and in particular to phase out its use of coal.

Kerry also previewed a new agreement with host nation Egypt that he said will call for it to reduce its natural gas use and to build out 10GW of new renewable energy capacity.

"There will be more to say about that next week," he said.

Kerry said the US has four priorities going into the talks, including making sure countries stick to their past commitments.

"We seek a collective message out of the Cop that the world is going to remain strong on climate ambition and will build on, not go backward, the pledges" from Glasgow, he said.

Kerry also said the US is committed to finding a path forward to address loss and damage, one of the top priorities for the Egyptian government leading the talks. It refers to providing financial support for countries already suffering from climate-related events such as storms and sea-level rise.

"We are anxious to do this in a very cooperative, non-confrontational way," he said.

Some non-governmental groups have warned the issue could end up derailing talks around other, less controversial issues at the Cop if certain countries feel it is not addressed appropriately.

Kerry did not call for a specific outcome on the issue, but said the US supports "coming out with some kind of structure that provides appropriate financial arrangements."

By Michael Ball