His was one of the most anticipated speeches following the election of Donald Trump. Secretary of State John Kerry closes his tenure as the United States announces its new plan to tackle global warming.
"The global community is united. No one should doubt that the vast majority of American citizens are determined to uphold the commitments made in Paris and know that climate change is real." The final speech on climate change by United States Secretary of State John Kerry, delivered at the Marrakech climate conference (Cop 22), was met with an immediate, sustained round of applause. As if these were the closing credits of a television series that had run for eight seasons, Kerry began with his thanks. He acknowledged all the key players who had led first to the signing and then to the record-speed ratification of the Paris Agreement, the international treaty on climate change — the first global accord to set as its objective the stabilisation of the rise in average global temperatures well below 2 degrees Celsius, with efforts to stay within 1.5 degrees, and to reach net-zero emissions by the second half of this century.
"I understand that there is uncertainty due to the election in my country, but I also know that some issues look different once you are in government compared to how they appeared during the campaign." Climate change is an important issue not only from an environmental standpoint but also for the economy: in the United States, renewable energy has grown at a pace that would have seemed unimaginable just a few years ago, to the point that the number of people employed in the sector in 2015 surpassed those working in the fossil fuel industry. The sector is so flourishing that stopping it seems impossible.
Climate change should not be a partisan issue. It is not for the Pentagon, which defines it as "a risk multiplier." In 2015 a specific report was published on the domestic security risks connected to climate change, including the increased intensity and frequency of storms and hurricanes, rising sea levels, higher agricultural commodity costs, and threats to the stability of fragile states.
"The Paris Agreement charts the road ahead, but it does not yet deliver results for us," Kerry said. "We are talking about choices that we still have available to us. We are accountable to science, not to theories, and certainly not to political slogans. No one should make decisions on the basis of ideology."
According to Kerry, acting on climate "will not be governments alone, nor even primarily." The trailblazers are innovators, business leaders and the private sector, but "government leadership is essential." This is especially true in a scenario where nearly one third of the world's energy is still produced from coal and energy demand in many countries around the world is rising. "We cannot use one hand to fight climate change while with the other we write large cheques to the fossil fuel industry. It makes no sense — it is suicide."
On the day of Kerry's speech, the United States delegation published Washington's new strategy for a low-carbon future (Mid-century strategy for deep decarbonisation). Under the Paris Agreement, all states are required to submit their long-term strategy to the Unfccc, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The deadline for submitting this document is 2020, which is why it is clear that the approaching end of the Obama presidency prompted the United States to act quickly. In the new strategy, Washington commits to cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent by 2050 relative to 2005 levels.
As 2016 is on course to become the hottest year since records began, the question is no longer whether the energy transition will happen, but rather whether it will come in time to avert catastrophic consequences of climate change: "I myself went to Greenland to see the retreating glacier line. The amount of ice that is melting would be enough to meet New York City's water needs for twenty years. I also went to Antarctica to speak with scientists. They were very clear: the more they study, the more alarmed they are by the speed at which these changes are occurring."
The lengthy final standing ovation brought this chapter of the fight against global warming to a close — a chapter in which the United States government was at the forefront of tackling the climate issue, using every means available: from international treaties to the Clean Power Plan, to renewable energy policies and international agreements. Farewell, Secretary Kerry.