Secretary of State John Kerry says the U.S. will use its chairmanship of a key Arctic group to push for stronger commitments for reaching a climate deal at the end of the year.
The U.S. took over the two-year chairmanship of the Arctic Council on Friday during a meeting of the eight countries that border the Arctic and work to develop policies for the rapidly-changing icy north. The council members include the U.S., Canada, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Russia and Finland.
The Arctic is a “critical part of the global climate system,” Kerry said. “The numbers are alarming,” the region is “warming faster than any region on Earth,” he said. Arctic sea ice is receding, which is creating an expansion of shipping and trade through the region along with opportunities to develop natural resources and energy. Kerry said the changes are also threatening the people who live in the region.
“The resilience of communities to adapt and live … is tragically, but actually, in jeopardy” due to global warming, he said. How the world responds will be crucial. “This is not a future challenge. This is happening right now.
“My government will work every single day … to prevent even more impacts,” Kerry said. He said the U.S. would use the council as a forum to encourage more work to limit the effects of climate change in the runup to the United Nations climate change conference in Paris in December.
He urged countries to submit their plans to cut carbon emissions to the United Nations “in order to go to Paris in the strongest position” possible. Several countries have not submitted their plans to the United Nations by last month’s interim deadline.
Canada, which is stepping down from the council’s chairmanship, has yet to submit its plan to the international body. The U.S. pledged to cut up to 28 percent of its greenhouse gas emissions by 2025.
The Obama administration reached out to Republican leaders in taking the helm of the key group. Kerry acknowledged that he was joined by Senate Energy & Natural Resources Chairman Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who a week ago urged the administration not to make climate change the sole focus of the U.S. chairmanship.
A Murkowski spokesman said she was there as the Senate’s “leading Arctic senator.”
Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, was also part of the delegation. Both King and Murkowski sat behind Kerry as he delivered remarks laying out a bold agenda that emphasized climate change as the primary focus of the U.S. chairmanship, along with stewardship of the oceans and an emphasis on preserving the way of life of indigenous groups.
The U.S. adopted a framework document to focus on reducing “black carbon” and methane, which are the two most potent greenhouse gases that many scientists say are causing the Earth’s climate to warm.
Black carbon is a blackish soot that Kerry said is 2,000 times more potent than carbon dioxide in causing global warming. Black carbon is the leftover soot from burning fossil fuels. In the Arctic, it has been linked to diesel generators used to power remote villages and towns.
Kerry said he will push reductions in black carbon and call on all countries with an interest in the Arctic to join the U.S. in meeting those reductions. The Arctic Council chairmanship will be “particularly important in the runup to Paris,” he said.
