Chatham House: John Kerry, 68th United States Secretary of State, speaks at Chatham House

Not only was John Kerry the 68th former Secretary of State for the US Government, he was also the former Special Presidential Envoy Climate for the United States of America. He is presenting today at a Chatham House meeting with Chair, Director Bronwen Maddox. The COP 30 Summit in Brazil has just taken place and it will be good to hear from John Kerry about global climate leadership.

John Kerry served as Secretary of State under President Obama from 2013-2017. He became the first Special Presidential Envoy for the Climate.

Kerry relishes the opportunity to be back at Chatham House. The climate issue is not complicated when it comes to solutions but it remains difficult diplomatically to sort out.

After COP 28 there has been an agreement to phase out fossil fuels. It was seen as the root cause of the climate crisis. After years of struggle the diplomatic communiqué was agreed. The world of fossil fuels and clean energy were bridged and 194 nations agreed concrete pollution targets. Greenhouse gases are pollution. It was an accepted vision for the future. The global businesses agreed to meet these targets. Young people were promised the agreement. What happened to this for our future generations? The new US leader, Donald Trump, has erased the USA from the Paris agreement. Trump is a denier. We cannot mitigate against the worst climate consequences.

Rivers could disappear causing water shortages. Lack of food and famine. Diseases as viruses cannot die in the heat. If we don’t take action the scientists have warned us. What will happen to food prices?

Two years after Dubai in Belen, Brasil, led by Starmer government representatives there was a walkout due to a flimsy agreement being drafted up. China avoids scrutiny, despite being a major polluter. Their emissions are high and without their participation the world cannot solve the climate issue.

The Paris agreement shared a unity of purpose. We cannot now go backwards. We don’t have the leeway to do this. A new paradigm with big polluters banding together to avoid accountability. If we don’t hang together, we will all hang alone. Common sense itself is being attacked. Reality hasn’t changed. There is no legitimate debate about the cause of the crisis. It is real and is happening. It is a hoax to claim otherwise. The laws of Physics cannot be bended. The costs of inaction are infinitely more expensive than the costs of acting. Inaction puts billions of people in harm’s way. Weather destroys lives and property making infrastructure uninsurable. We need to build sea walls etc otherwise land will be uninhabitable. In certain places in the USA, insurance premiums are higher than mortgage payments.

90% of warming goes into the ocean. The water goes up into atmosphere and drops as rain in storms. By continuing to burn fossil fuels we are using denialism of avoidance. The soaring costs of inaction are an unforced error. At the first COP in 1990 with George H. Bush and Margaret Thatcher the climate crisis was officially recognized. Back then nobody had the technology at their hands to sort it. We have no excuse not to deal with it. We do not have the excuse of a lack of know how.

Cheap wind turbines. Our problem is a deficit of willpower and not clean power. Diplomacy can be reimagined. We can win the fight to clean energy and have a low carbon economy. New technology beats old commodities. Investment in renewable energy now is higher than investment in fossil fuels. The stockmarket is proof of this. Green energy is profitable. What a strange time in the world where business leaders have joined with politicians and decided that clean climate is not good for business. Kerry praises this country for being a lead voice is clean energy., especially under the Starmer government. Clean and healthy climate brings good jobs and prosperity. Kerry heaps praise on Octopus Energy and I agree with him that they are making energy bills more affordable It is one of the reasons that I run adverts for them on https://wezg.co.uk Octopus Energy are a first mover company.People are seeing the electricity age where boundaries are being redrawn. The outdated mantras of dig baby, dig, drill, baby, drill are a thing of the past. The market is making this message clear. Companies are investing in green energy as it is profitable. Green investment budgets are being increased not for public relations but for profits.

China is another reality. It is not slowing down – it is speeding up. China have built more renewable than the rest of the world put together. They are going to eclipse everyone else. They will be completely energy independent soon, running their own show. by 2030 there will be new clean technologies – advanced nuclear, geothermal.

Consumers want heat pumps over boilers. We don’t need to rebuild the wheel. We already have the roadmap. If all the agreements were followed through then the temperature rise could be pinned to 1.6 degrees. We deserve to have people follow up on COP agreements. The COP Presidency needs to summon to the table the 25 or so nations that are responsible for 90% of emissions. The young people in the world feel like they are being let down. It is nice to have a battle ahead that we can win. Just need to get our arse into gear!

It was a presentation where Physics meets Politics.

Over to Q&A…

The economy is so big these days that it has the ability to survive and to get through bumps. We can win back the sense of being able to change things at political level. Are Republicans in the Senate in agreement or are they frightened? Kerry doesn’t want to get too into the politics. He went to the Senate in 1985 when they got things done on a bipartisan basis. You would never see what is happening there today. Fairness needs to be restored and listening to the other side and building consensus needs to happen. Winston Churchill once said: “America will always make the right decision, once it has exhausted all the other options.”

We have to stop fueling the capacity for a war. At international level in diplomacy. There are issues with West and China. Hong Kong, Taiwan, The Uighurs, Kim Jong Un. There is great mistrust. The Chinese are, however, practical, and would prefer smoother waters rather than hurricanes to sail through. He has spent time with President Xi. If you work together is a respectful way you can achieve a lot. We have to talk with China more. He worked with President XI im order to stop Ebola. And President Putin helped. They also got the chemical weapons out of Syria after Assad had used them. We cannot be categorical. We must look at other countries through their eyes and not just through our own. China’s raison d’être is to preserve the CCP in power. They fear, for example, power blackouts that might cause a revolution. The USA must work with China. It is similar thinking as it was in 1945 after America had first exploded nuclear bombs and we went into the Arms race. America was always first in moving through steps. Gorbachev and Reagon sat down in Reykjavic and put an end to the hostilities. We need to sit down and discuss AI as it is a focus for the future.

What are the main challenges and resistance to climate movement? Trump claims it is a hoax. Exploiting wokism and defining it. Badmouthing and spending millions of dollars combating the climate crisis from the right wing, spreading propaganda. The courts and justice system can’t stand up to it as they have been politicized. The climate crisis has been used as a tool to manipulate people. the USA is its own worst enemy. They have to focus and rebuild their education system in the US.

It is the most corrupt governance in public life that Kerry has witnessed in his lifetime. There are no balances and checks in place and accountability.

After Vietnam Kerry came back from the ar, deeply upset by what he had seen firsthand. He became politically active. He became part of the first Earth Day where people protested about wanting clean air and clean water. A political movement was built. The issues became voting issues. The politicians realized it was a voting issue ad decided to do something. Inspired by Rachel Carson ‘Silent Spring’. In the 1960s the political generation were the most active at any time in history and they got things done. The environment agency of the United States was created at that time. The fear of the voter drove the transformation. Now it is the fear of the President and The White House. A lot of money is pent in US politics and it is really corrupt. How does democracy work? It is hard work. People will stand up to what is going on.

The meeting ran out of time. It was an enlightening presentation and I feel more confident now in my knowledge of the global climate crisis. Thank you, John Kerry, for coming to Chatham House.