Secretary of State John Kerry touted “green” energy policy by suggesting that the “worst thing that could happen to us” if advocates of human-caused climate change were wrong wouldn’t be so bad.

“The worst thing is we would create millions of new jobs; we would transition to cleaner energy … we would have cleaner air, which would mean we have less hospitalization for children [with] asthma and people with particulates causing cancer; and we would have greater energy security for everybody and independence as a result. That’s the worst that could happen,” he said during a visit Wednesday to Mexico City.