The U.S. has no plan to proactively phase out so-called “unabated” fossil fuel production, despite the pledge it’s made to that effect. There are also no assurances that emissions from ever-expanding fossil fuel production can in fact be abated—a term that refers to capturing and storing carbon emissions—at any meaningful scale.
Kerry, meanwhile, said during the same presser that the U.S. will be “refocusing effort and energy on the 1.5 degrees [Celsius], which is the critical guidepost for all of us here.” Kerry has a somewhat fantastical view on how to achieve this goal in a world where nations are on track to produce more than double the amount of fossil fuels that is consistent with this limit: oil and gas executives, according to Kerry, will take “public responsibility” for their emissions and come to the climate negotiating table in good faith, all the while investing unprecedented amounts of money into renewables and low-carbon ventures like carbon capture and storage. Over time, then, government incentives for things like electric vehicles will both “reduce demand for gasoline” and spur further investments in low-carbon technologies, he told the Financial Times earlier this month.