Secretary of State John Kerry framed climate change as a battle to save the planet from ourselves in signing the Paris climate change agreement on Friday.
In Paris last year, 196 countries agreed to “work to save our planet from ourselves,” Kerry said. “Today is a day to celebrate, to win the battle of securing the Paris agreement.”
Over 165 nations will sign the Paris deal throughout the day on Friday. Kerry was one of the first in line to do so. The U.S. signed the agreement soon after the signing ceremony began Friday morning at U.N. headquarters in New York.
Kerry admitted that the focus of the Paris deal is not entirely on meeting the mark of stopping the Earth’s temperature from rising above 1.5 degrees Celsius. It’s really about sending a market signal to drive capital investment in renewables, which will bring the reductions the deal seeks.
“The power of this agreement is the opportunity that it creates,” Kerry said. He said it sends an “unmistakeable signal” that will drive the allocation of capital toward clean energy investments and “define the new energy future.
“The power of this agreement is what it is going to do to unleash the private sector,” he said.
He said renewable energy investment is already “at an all-time high,” with tens of trillions projected to be invested by the middle of the century to focus more of the world’s energy on renewables than fossil fuels.
He said the world has the technological know-how to accomplish the goal. “The only question is whether it’s beyond out collective resolve,” he said.