John Kerry: Goodbye to climate ‘czar’ as fears grow of Donald Trump’s return | Climate and environment

It was night in Glasgow. And it was raining, of course. The 2021 climate summit, which was held a year late due to the pandemic in the Scottish city, entered its final phase. No major announcement was expected on November 10. But there was: The United States and China issued a joint statement in which they committed to accelerating the fight against climate change and limiting emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas commonly invoked in the fight against global warming. The promoters of the agreement were two old acquaintances: John Kerry, Joe Biden’s special envoy for climate, and Xi Zhenhua, head of the Chinese delegation to the summit. These are known by the nicknames of special angels tsars Climate and it are two characters without whom the climate diplomacy of recent decades in the world cannot be understood.

The most surprising thing about that joint statement was the timing, as it came at the height of tensions between the two superpowers over Taiwan and was preceded by several public denunciations between the two countries’ leaders. It was a surprising climate of peace stitched back together by John Kerry and Xi Zhenhua, who over the years have been something of a red telephone that has kept the two nations connected despite the open fronts of conflict.

In the next scene of this story, it is less cold and it is not raining. It’s also night in Dubai, where the annual 2023 Summit was held this past December. The atmosphere is relaxed at a birthday party hosted by Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of Industry of the United Arab Emirates and President of this Climate Conference. Carey, who turned 80 on December 11. Those who deal directly with him during the two-week summit agree: “He’s going to go out.” And so it was: Kerry left office this week. In January, her climate dance partner Zi Zhenhua did the same. “We’re really good friends,” Kerry summed up at a press conference with foreign reporters this Wednesday. “We’re going to try to see if we can stay together, as emeritus, and do constructive work,” added the Democratic Party politician, who is George W. Despite losing the election to Bush, he became his party’s presidential nominee in 2004. Because Kerry intends to stay involved in the fight against climate change, albeit from another line.

In the third scene Carrie sits with her granddaughter Isabelle on her lap as she signs a large book. It’s April 22, 2016, and US accession to the Paris Agreement is being signed at United Nations headquarters in New York. Kerry was the Obama administration’s secretary of state at the time and a few months ago he was again crucial, along with his Chinese counterpart, to finalize the Paris Agreement in December 2015, which still governs international efforts against terrorism today. Change in atmosphere.

But the victory of Donald Trump in late 2016 marked a radical shift in North American foreign policy in general and environmental policy in particular. To the point that the Republican, who now wants to return to the White House, pulled his country out of the Paris Agreement. After Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in late 2020, Kerry returned to the front lines as special climate envoy. In his hands, his country once again joined the international fight against climate change.

“As climate envoy, John Kerry made the return of the United States as a global partner on climate issues,” summarizes Alice Hill, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. think tank United States. “Beginning with his presence at the first UN Earth Summit in Rio in 1992, he has left an indelible mark on the fight against climate change; For more than three decades, she has fought to protect our planet for future generations,” added the expert, who also advised President Obama.

Kerry’s departure coincided with Trump’s landslide victory on the so-called Super Tuesday, which ramped up the race to return to the White House despite his controversial mandate and his delegitimization of a Democratic victory that would oust him from office in 2020. And many environmentalists. And environmental politicians are holding their breath again. “A Trump presidency will paralyze US climate action, with Trump again likely to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement,” warns Hill. “Their reluctance to meaningfully engage with the climate or with our allies not only damages the credibility of the United States, but also threatens the health of our planet,” this expert says.

Trump’s campaign program foresees, if he is re-elected, a series of executive orders to increase oil, gas and coal production, along with the explicit authorization of new energy projects. This would mean reactivating new natural gas export permits, reversing subsidies and aid provided by the Biden administration for the purchase of electric vehicles and, in effect, withdrawing the United States from the Paris Agreement again. These short-term measures would be followed by long-term plans to reduce environmental regulation and, depending on the makeup of Congress at the time, repeal provisions of a major climate bill passed by Biden, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). its English acronym), such as tax exemptions for clean energy.

Some of his energy and environmental policy advisers are pressing Trump to return some lands that are now federally owned, including national forests, to the states. The Republican’s program shows how his second presidency would prompt another 180-degree turn toward fossil fuels, in addition to slashing environmental regulations that conservatives say are destroying jobs. His advisers include several former senior officials of his administration, such as Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, and one-time Energy Secretary Rick Perry, as well as oil magnate Harold Hamm. At rallies, Trump frequently criticizes Biden’s energy policies and chants a well-known 2008 Republican campaign slogan, “Drill, baby, drill” (Drill, honey, drill), to arrange its foundations.

A recent study by British analyst group Carbon Brief warns and quantifies the impact of Trump’s victory on the global fight against climate change. The United States, currently the second largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world and the first historical emitter, will fail to meet its climate commitments for this decade. By rolling back some of Biden’s key environmental measures, such as those contemplated in the Inflation Reduction Act, emissions in the United States in 2030 would be only 28% lower than in 2005, far from the reduction objective of between 50% and 52%. Democrats have committed to Biden and Kerry, carbon brief experts estimate.

But for now, Democrats remain in the White House and another 75-year-old political veteran, John Podesta, has replaced Kerry as special climate envoy. His Chinese counterpart is also already known: diplomat Liu Zhenmin, 68. Two new ones tsars And Kerry has already held two meetings to clarify matters in the hope that cooperation between the two countries will continue. “I believe that what we have been able to do on climate has been good for the world and for our countries, and that we need continued concerted efforts to address the climate crisis,” Kerry said briefly in his farewell this week.

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