US issues rallying cry for UN climate summit in Glasgow

COUNTRIES have to come together to raise their ambition on tackling climate change at a key UN summit in Glasgow in November, US climate envoy John Kerry has said.

Mr Kerry, special presidential envoy for climate under new US president Joe Biden, said that all “nations have to raise their sights together or we all fail together” at the talks which aim to prevent dangerous climate change. In a stark message, he warned the world had to cut emissions in half by 2030 to prevent temperatures rising more than 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, above which the worst impacts of global warming will be felt. That would require massively ramping up a coal phase-out, take-up of electric vehicles, renewable energy and forest cover. Speaking at a World Economic Forum virtual Davos event on mobilising action on climate change, Mr Kerry said it was achievable but not without greater political will, tapping the energy of the market place and using the private sector to help financial institutions mobilise the trillions of dollars needed. He highlighted the actions

Mr Biden had taken on climate since taking power last week, starting with re-joining the global Paris Agreement, and the president’s plans to host a leaders’ summit on the issue on April 22. Mr Kerry acknowledged the US was re-entering the climate effort with “humility, because we know we’ve wasted four years in which we were inexcusably absent”.