Kerry Appointment Sends a Strong Signal on the Climate - Rob Horowitz
Rob Horowitz, MINDSETTER™
Kerry Appointment Sends a Strong Signal on the Climate - Rob Horowitz
As secretary of state, working closely with President Obama, Kerry negotiated a groundbreaking bi-lateral agreement with China in which that nation, which had passed the United States as the world’s largest carbon emitter, finally agreed to limit its emissions. This was an essential diplomatic breakthrough because it was the first time that one of the so-called developing nations, which industrialized much later than the United States and Western Europe and as a result has contributed less over-all to the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, agreed to be part of the solution. This agreement between the world’s two largest current carbon emitters paved the way for the landmark 2015 Paris Climate Accords, of which Kerry was also the lead negotiator. This global agreement, to which nearly every nation in the word was a signer, established a solid foundation that coupled with ongoing diplomacy, persistent follow-up, and positive example setting, provides the potential to keep global temperature increases sufficiently below the 2% Celsius or 3.6 % Fahrenheit over pre-industrial levels that scientists agree would be disastrous.
As Kerry himself would tell you, however, for the Biden administration to bring about the sweeping actions needed of large carbon emitters, such as China, India and Brazil, the United States will first need to show the world through its own actions on the domestic front that it is once again serious and committed to taking on the climate challenge. The diplomatic breakthroughs on the climate during the Obama administration, as the former secretary of state knows better than anyone, were only made possible as a result of significant steps taken to reduce carbon emissions, such as substantially increasing fuel mileage limits for automobiles and trucks and putting in place tough regulations to limit the use of coal.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTFortunately, President-elect Biden is committed to taking the steps needed at home to speed the transition from greenhouse gas producing fossil fuels to non-carbon producing renewable energy. This will begin by reversing the “let’s heat up the earth as fast as we can” policies of President Trump.
As the transition proceeds, one can see this new direction taking shape. For example, General Motors recently withdrew its support from the Trump Administration’s efforts to do away with the long-standing California exception in the Clean Air Act, giving that state the ability to put in place standards that exceed the national ones. "We believe the ambitious electrification goals of the President-elect, California, and General Motors are aligned to address climate change by drastically reducing automobile emissions," GM CEO Mary Barra said
Biden’s strong commitment to listen to the scientists and launch a full-scale effort to severely limit the emissions of greenhouse gases will work hand-in-hand with Kerry’s diplomatic efforts. Those efforts will begin with the United States repudiating President Trump’s ill-advised withdrawal from the Paris Accords and officially and enthusiastically rejoining the rest of the world as a party to the agreement.
By next November, when the next UN Climate Summit will take place with Great Britain as the host, I am confident that Kerry with the full support of President Biden will once again be a key player on the climate internationally. This bodes well for ensuring that our children will inherit a habitable planet.
As the old saying goes, elections have consequences. Given the narrowing window in time to avoid potentially devastating impacts resulting from a rapidly warming planet, we may look back and say this election was consequential in bringing about the fundamental change of direction needed to solve the climate crisis. While there is much hard work still to be done and difficult political challenges to be surmounted to bring this result about, I see a well-marked path ahead.
