US plan to tap businesses for green finance meets resistance

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt — US climate envoy John Kerry unveiled a plan at the COP27 climate summit to make it easier for private corporations to send cash to the developing world in exchange for looking green at home.

Kerry’s plan comes after failure to get Congress or the American public to spend billions of dollars more a year in climate financial aid. The plan to finance developing nations’ transition to clean energy involves selling “high quality” carbon credits to companies trying to make their carbon emissions “net zero.” However, the idea faced stiff resistance from environmental groups and climate experts, who said it would give polluters a license to keep polluting.