Nairobi, Kenya - The Biden administration's climate envoy John Kerry has reiterated that the US should not be forced to pay reparations to the countries hardest hit by Western emissions and other legacies of colonialism.

While attending the African Climate Summit in Kenya, Kerry noted that 20 countries, including the US, produce 80% of all emissions, while 17 out of the 20 countries most impacted are on the African continent.

The climate czar said the US would give an additional $30 million to boost food security efforts in African nations and that President Joe Biden is working with Congress to provide $3 billion per year in adaptation aid to vulnerable countries.

He also pointed out that the US is working on a transitional committee to design a loss and damages fund for those countries hardest hit by the climate emergency.

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But on the sidelines of the summit, Kerry once again told reporters that the US should not be legally required to contribute to such a reparations fund.

"This is not a unique position for the United States and many nations in the world," Kerry told The Daily Nation. "We have said we are not going to create a liability structure on the court. Changing the dynamics and everything we do in a very negative way. We are not going to do that."

It's not the first time Kerry has pulled the brakes on talk of climate reparations.

The former presidential candidate told Congress in July that "under no circumstances" would the US put money into a fund for countries damaged by climate change-driven disasters, though he has continued to stress his country's commitment to tackling the crisis.

"Since 1988, the United States and other countries have taken enormous steps to respond to this reality. Mother Nature doesn't choose between the emissions of one country and those of another. What affects Mother Nature is the total emissions that go into the atmosphere," Kerry said to the Daily Nation reporter this week.

Experts have pointed out that the current emergency is inherently tied to the Western history of exploitation, with colonial powers like the US – by far the world's worst polluter historically – driving emissions as other peoples suffer the consequences.

The African Climate Summit ended Wednesday with calls to phase down the use of coal and abolish all fossil fuel subsidies.