Energy & Environment

Kerry: Climate summit ‘bigger, more engaged, more urgent’ than in past

by Monique Beals 11/02/21 01:56 PM ET

Climate envoy John Kerry said Tuesday there is “something different” about the United Nations COP26 summit, the 26th annual conference of parties to discuss strategies surrounding climate change.

“There is something bigger, more engaged, more urgent in what is happening here than I have seen in at any other COP, and I believe we are going to come up with record levels of ambition,” Kerry said in an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.

Kerry also said that goals from the Paris Agreement to hold global warming levels below 2 degrees Celsius or 1.5 degrees Celsius if possible could be met “if people do what they’ve laid out as their specific plans.”

The former secretary of state added that President Biden had reached out to Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is not attending the climate conference in-person in Glasgow though his country is one of the world’s largest emitters of greenhouse gases.

Kerry said the leaders had a “very good call” and agreed that they wanted to “move forward on climate,” according to CNN.

“We have to bring those other countries to the table. We have to raise ambition,” Kerry added to the network. “But developing countries, even some big ones like India, can’t do this on their own.”

Kerry also praised an agreement announced on Tuesday of over 100 world leaders who vowed to end deforestation by 2030.

Prior to COP26, Kerry and Gina McCarthy, who is a climate adviser for the Biden administration, released a five-part plan regarding the U.S. strategy for addressing climate change. The plan’s goals include achieving 100 percent clean electricity by 2035, transitioning American cars to electric vehicles, moving industries toward electricity and away from fuel, helping Americans use energy-efficient appliances, and reducing methane emissions, CNN reported.