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- Pope kicks off Christmas under shadow of war
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- Japan's top diplomat in China to address 'challenges'
- Thousands attend Christmas charity dinner in Buenos Aires
- Demand for Japanese content booms post 'Shogun'
- As India's Bollywood shifts, stars and snappers click
- Mystery drones won't interfere with Santa's work: US tracker
- Djokovic eyes more Slam glory as Swiatek returns under doping cloud
- Australia's in-form Head confirmed fit for Boxing Day Test
- Brazilian midfielder Oscar returns to Sao Paulo
- 'Wemby' and 'Ant-Man' to make NBA Christmas debuts
- US agency focused on foreign disinformation shuts down
- On Christmas Eve, Pope Francis launches holy Jubilee year
- 'Like a dream': AFP photographer's return to Syria
- Chiefs seek top seed in holiday test for playoff-bound NFL teams
- Panamanians protest 'public enemy' Trump's canal threat
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- Ecuador vice president says Noboa seeking her 'banishment'
- Leicester boss Van Nistelrooy aware of 'bigger picture' as Liverpool await
- Syria authorities say armed groups have agreed to disband
- Maresca expects Man City to be in title hunt as he downplays Chelsea's chancs
- South Africa opt for all-pace attack against Pakistan
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- Global stocks mostly higher in thin pre-Christmas trade
- Bethlehem marks sombre Christmas under shadow of war
- 11 killed in blast at Turkey explosives plant
- Indonesia considers parole for ex-terror chiefs: official
- Postecoglou says Spurs 'need to reinforce' in transfer window
- Le Pen says days of new French govt numbered
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- 12 killed in blast at Turkey explosives plant
- Panama leaders past and present reject Trump's threat of Canal takeover
- Hong Kong police issue fresh bounties for activists overseas
- Saving the mysterious African manatee at Cameroon hotspot
- India consider second spinner for Boxing Day Test
- London wall illuminates Covid's enduring pain at Christmas
- Poyet appointed manager at South Korea's Jeonbuk
- South Korea's opposition vows to impeach acting president
- The tsunami detection buoys safeguarding lives in Thailand
- Teen Konstas to open for Australia in Boxing Day India Test
- Asian stocks mostly up after US tech rally
- US panel could not reach consensus on US-Japan steel deal: Nippon
- The real-life violence that inspired South Korea's 'Squid Game'
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- Tennis power couple de Minaur and Boulter get engaged
- Supermaxi yachts eye record in gruelling Sydney-Hobart race
- Hawaii's Kilauea volcano erupts, spewing columns of lava
Sounding warning, Kerry urges new ways on climate finance
Veteran envoy John Kerry called Friday for the United States to find major new climate finance methods, warning of "huge disappointment" if historic promises to transition from fossil fuels go unheeded.
Kerry, who is stepping down as the US climate envoy, described an agreement in December in Dubai at the last UN summit as historic for its call on the planet to move away from fossil fuels in large part responsible for the planet's rising temperatures.
But he warned that the COP28 agreement must not be "reduced to mere words on a piece of paper."
"If we don't do what we've said we're going to do in these next months, that's exactly what could happen, encouraging cynicism and dropout-ism and huge disappointment around the world," Kerry said at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Kerry, an 80-year-old former secretary of state, senator and presidential contender, has said he will focus outside of government on mobilizing private funding to complement government efforts on climate.
Kerry said that the United States should consider a system of financial guarantees for investors, which would cover risks if projects fail.
"It's time for creativity. We've come up with new financial instruments when we needed them before, and my judgment is we need them now," he said.
He pointed to his work as envoy with Indonesia and Vietnam on so-called Just Energy Transition Partnerships, or JETPs -- financing deals between a small group of wealthy countries and an emerging economy to reduce reliance on fossil fuels or take other climate action.
Calling such deals "very bespoke," Kerry said, "We don't have time to do that."
"We need to help deploy larger sums with greater confidence that the deal is bankable and we de-risked it sufficiently," he said.
A recent study by the Climate Policy Initiative pointed to assessments that credit guarantees could mobilize between six and 25 times as much financing as traditional loans, with developing countries in particular looking to reduce uncertainties.
P.Mira--PC