Kerry: US open to talks on contentious climate financing

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER and SETH BORENSTEIN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. climate envoy John Kerry says the United States wants to find a solution to a growing controversy that threatens to overtake the upcoming U.N. global conference. Kerry on Tuesday spoke to the growing demand from poorer countries for financial compensation from the United States and other wealthy countries that are by far the biggest culprits in climate damage over time. Kerry called the idea of any one country paying a trillion dollars a nonstarter, politically and otherwise. But he insisted the U.S. was open to working on a financing mechanism, short of admitting legal liability. Developing nations are pushing increasingly hard for wealthy nations to sit down and talk on the issue.