U.S. climate envoy John Kerry said it would “be great” if U.S. taxpayers would contribute financially to climate change but other countries will need to do their part to prevent cataclysmic consequences worldwide.
During an event in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, Kerry told Washington Post editor Sally Buzbee that the United States was already the biggest humanitarian donor in the world but that more needed to be done globally to combat climate change after Buzbee asked whether taxpayer money would be necessary.
JOHN KERRY WARNS GREEN ENERGY TRANSITION NEEDS TO ACCELERATE TO COMBAT CLIMATE CHANGE
“It’d be great if there was some — I mean, the United States of America is probably the largest humanitarian donor in the world,” Kerry said. “The American people already do an enormous amount around the world. If you’re looking at the program we’ve done, what we did with AIDS in Africa, what we did with President Obama and Ebola, and so forth.”
He continued, “So we’re on deck and we’re in the fight. But yes, we’re the largest economy in the world, $21 [trillion] to $22 trillion economy, with China next at $16 trillion or so. We have to step up and lead, but we also have to demand that everybody else is at the table.”
Kerry, who has been working with world leaders since he was appointed special presidential climate envoy in 2021, said he was disappointed on the collective level when it came to cutting emissions but that certain countries have stepped up. So far, 30 countries have increased their national contributions to cut emissions, including Egypt and Indonesia. Meanwhile, 150 countries have joined the methane pledge to have a 30% global reduction of the gas by 2030, according to Kerry.
“The methane pledge we started in Glasgow,” Kerry said. “Methane is responsible for half the warming of the planet. It’s also the fastest reduction that we could get conceivably. So, we now have 150 nations that have joined in the methane pledge. If [the pledge] were to happen, and I really think it could … it’s the equivalent of every automobile in the world, every truck in the world, every plane, every ship going to zero emissions by 2030, and so that’s the kind of thing that is encouraging.”
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Kerry most recently led the U.S. delegation at the COP27 summit in Egypt. The summit resulted in a new deal called the “loss and damage” fund that will assist developing nations that are vulnerable to climate change.
