Kerry Commits US To Climate Crisis Fight But Warns World Is Way Off Pace

"Joe Biden’s new climate envoy says: ‘All nations must raise ambition together – or we will all fail, together’"

"The world is lagging behind the pace of change needed to avert catastrophic impacts from the climate crisis, John Kerry has warned in his first remarks as the US’s new climate envoy.

Kerry, the former US secretary of state, acknowledged that America had been absent from the international effort to contain dangerous global heating during Donald Trump’s presidency but added that “today no country and no continent is getting the job done”.

There would need to be a “wholesale transformation of the global economy” if the world is to reach net zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050, Kerry said. He said it was necessary for coal to be phased out five times faster than recent trends, the planet’s tree cover to be increased five times faster, renewable energy to be ramped up six times faster and a transition to electric vehicles to be 22 times faster than present."

Oliver Milman and Fiona Harvey report for the Guardian January 21, 2021.

Source: Guardian, 01/22/2021