The Energy Mix

Top Menu

  • About
  • Latest Digest/Archive
  • Partners
  • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Contact

Main Menu

  • News Archive by Category
    • Climate & Society
      • Carbon Levels & Measurement
      • Carbon-Free Transition
      • Climate Action/”Blockadia”
      • Climate Denial & Greenwashing
      • Climate Policy/Meetings/Negotiations
      • Culture, Curiosities, & Humour
      • Demographics
      • Energy Politics
      • Energy Subsidies
      • Energy/Carbon Pricing & Economics
      • Finance & Investment
      • First Peoples
      • Insurance & Liability
      • International Agencies & Studies
      • Jobs & Training
      • Legal & Regulatory
      • Media, Messaging, & Public Opinion
      • Methane
      • Travel, Leisure & Recreation
    • Climate Impacts & Adaptation
      • Biodiversity & Habitat
      • Drought, Famine & Wildfires
      • Food Security
      • Forests & Deforestation
      • Health & Safety
      • Heat & Temperature
      • Human Rights & Migration
      • Ice Loss & Sea Level Rise
      • International Security & War
      • Severe Storms & Flooding
      • Soil & Natural Sequestration
      • Water
    • Demand & Distribution
      • Air & Marine
      • Auto & Alternative Vehicles
      • Batteries/Storage
      • Buildings
      • Cities
      • Electricity Grid
      • Energy Access & Equity
      • Off-Grid
      • Petrochemicals & Plastics
      • Supply Chains & Consumption
      • Transit
      • Walking & Biking
    • Jurisdictions
      • Africa
      • Arctic & Antarctica
      • Asia
      • Australia
      • Brazil
      • Canada
      • China
      • Europe
      • India
      • International
      • Mexico, Caribbean & Latin America
      • Middle East
      • Oceans
      • Small Island States
      • South & Central America
      • Sub-National Governments
      • United States
    • Non-Renewable Energy
      • CCS & Negative Emissions
      • Coal
      • Nuclear
      • Oil & Gas
      • Pipelines/Rail Transport
      • Shale & Fracking
      • Tar Sands/Oil Sands
    • Opinion & Analysis
    • Renewable Energy
      • Bioenergy
      • Demand & Efficiency
      • General Renewables
      • Geothermal
      • Hydrogen
      • Hydropower
      • Research & Development
      • Solar
      • Wave & Tidal
      • Wind
  • Special Reports
    • Alberta’s Bitumen Pipe Dream
    • Canada’s Drive to Net Zero
    • Carbon Farming
    • City and Sub-National Action
    • Drawdown
    • Drive to 1.5
    • 26-Week Climate Transition Program for Canada
    • America’s Electoral Climate 2020
    • Canada’s Climate Change Election 2019
    • The Energy Mix Yearbook 2018
      • Climate Extremes
      • Fossils Go For Broke
      • Renewables (R)Evolution
      • Electric Vehicles
      • Canada’s Contradiction
      • COP24
      • Pipeline Politics
      • Jobs and Just Transition
      • Cities and Sub-Nationals
      • Finance and Divestment
      • Climate Litigation
  • Webinars & Podcasts
  • About
  • Latest Digest/Archive
  • Partners
  • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Contact
  • Subscribe
  • Donate

logo

  • News Archive by Category
    • Climate & Society
      • Carbon Levels & Measurement
      • Carbon-Free Transition
      • Climate Action/”Blockadia”
      • Climate Denial & Greenwashing
      • Climate Policy/Meetings/Negotiations
      • Culture, Curiosities, & Humour
      • Demographics
      • Energy Politics
      • Energy Subsidies
      • Energy/Carbon Pricing & Economics
      • Finance & Investment
      • First Peoples
      • Insurance & Liability
      • International Agencies & Studies
      • Jobs & Training
      • Legal & Regulatory
      • Media, Messaging, & Public Opinion
      • Methane
      • Travel, Leisure & Recreation
    • Climate Impacts & Adaptation
      • Biodiversity & Habitat
      • Drought, Famine & Wildfires
      • Food Security
      • Forests & Deforestation
      • Health & Safety
      • Heat & Temperature
      • Human Rights & Migration
      • Ice Loss & Sea Level Rise
      • International Security & War
      • Severe Storms & Flooding
      • Soil & Natural Sequestration
      • Water
    • Demand & Distribution
      • Air & Marine
      • Auto & Alternative Vehicles
      • Batteries/Storage
      • Buildings
      • Cities
      • Electricity Grid
      • Energy Access & Equity
      • Off-Grid
      • Petrochemicals & Plastics
      • Supply Chains & Consumption
      • Transit
      • Walking & Biking
    • Jurisdictions
      • Africa
      • Arctic & Antarctica
      • Asia
      • Australia
      • Brazil
      • Canada
      • China
      • Europe
      • India
      • International
      • Mexico, Caribbean & Latin America
      • Middle East
      • Oceans
      • Small Island States
      • South & Central America
      • Sub-National Governments
      • United States
    • Non-Renewable Energy
      • CCS & Negative Emissions
      • Coal
      • Nuclear
      • Oil & Gas
      • Pipelines/Rail Transport
      • Shale & Fracking
      • Tar Sands/Oil Sands
    • Opinion & Analysis
    • Renewable Energy
      • Bioenergy
      • Demand & Efficiency
      • General Renewables
      • Geothermal
      • Hydrogen
      • Hydropower
      • Research & Development
      • Solar
      • Wave & Tidal
      • Wind
  • Special Reports
    • Alberta’s Bitumen Pipe Dream
    • Canada’s Drive to Net Zero
    • Carbon Farming
    • City and Sub-National Action
    • Drawdown
    • Drive to 1.5
    • 26-Week Climate Transition Program for Canada
    • America’s Electoral Climate 2020
    • Canada’s Climate Change Election 2019
    • The Energy Mix Yearbook 2018
      • Climate Extremes
      • Fossils Go For Broke
      • Renewables (R)Evolution
      • Electric Vehicles
      • Canada’s Contradiction
      • COP24
      • Pipeline Politics
      • Jobs and Just Transition
      • Cities and Sub-Nationals
      • Finance and Divestment
      • Climate Litigation
  • Webinars & Podcasts
Advanced Search
Carbon Levels & MeasurementClimate & SocietyClimate Impacts & AdaptationClimate Policy/Meetings/NegotiationsHuman Rights & MigrationInternational Agencies & StudiesJurisdictionsUnited States
Home›Climate & Society›Carbon Levels & Measurement›Opinion: Kerry Must Lead Total Reform of U.S. Climate Diplomacy

Opinion: Kerry Must Lead Total Reform of U.S. Climate Diplomacy

November 27, 2020
Full Story: ActionAid @ActionAidUSA

November 27, 2020
 
Primary Author Brandon Wu @brandoncwu
218
3
Share:
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  Print This Story
U.S. State Department/Flickr

After four years of climate denial at the top of the U.S. government, the appointment of John Kerry as a climate envoy for the next administration is a bit of a breath of fresh air. Having an administration that believes the climate crisis is real, and takes it seriously enough to create high-level White House positions to deal with it, is obviously far better than the alternative.

But let’s not forget the scale of action and transformation that addressing the climate crisis demands. If we are going to avert runaway climate breakdown, we need the Biden administration to be orders of magnitude more ambitious in transforming our energy, food, and economic systems, than any previous administration. We are going to need a new level of recognition of U.S. responsibility and capacity for action, with global solidarity at the core of our belief.

Like this story? Subscribe to The Energy Mix and never miss an edition of our free e-digest.

SUBSCRIBE

The Biden administration has to deal with the stark reality that after four more years of climate inaction—on top of 30-odd years of little to no action since the beginning of international climate negotiations—business-as-usual solutions to climate change are even more inadequate than they were before. While the continuity of John Kerry as Obama secretary of state, to John Kerry as Biden climate envoy, may be welcome diplomatically for some, we cannot afford to just go back to old negotiating tactics and climate policies.

Out with the Old…

Under previous administrations, U.S. negotiating strategies were more focused on maintaining U.S. economic and geopolitical dominance rather than on finding ways to work collectively and constructively with other countries to solve the climate crisis. Divide-and-conquer tactics—playing blocs of developing countries against each other using bullying tactics and power—were the norm. U.S. politicians also relied heavily on “national security” framing, emphasizing the importance of U.S. interests above the needs of shared human society.

Click here for our Special Report on climate and the U.S. election.

To their credit, the Obama administration proactively re-engaged with international climate negotiations after a long U.S. absence. But the Obama State Department negotiating team – including while Kerry was at the helm—trumpeted “U.S. climate leadership” while undermining core principles of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The principles that especially came under fire from U.S. negotiators were those around equity and fairness—the idea that the U.S. and other historically industrialized countries should do more, faster, than poorer countries.

So what did U.S. climate leadership look like with Secretary Kerry’s negotiation team? The U.S. commitment for emissions reductions under the Paris Agreement was five to six times weaker than our fair share. The U.S. was a perpetual roadblock to progress on key negotiations around financial support for poorer countries. The U.S. tried to ensure that it could never be held liable for the damage caused by climate impacts in vulnerable countries and has no obligation to support them—a hard-line position that nearly torpedoed negotiations on multiple occasions.

John Kerry, as President-elect Biden’s climate envoy, must break from Obama-era policies and negotiating practices. The U.S. has never been a climate leader—quite the opposite. For the U.S. to really lead, Kerry must pioneer an approach that has true international cooperation, global solidarity, and respect for human rights and justice at its centre. First and foremost, that means he must find a way to convince the world that the U.S. is genuinely ready to do its fair share—meaning deep emissions reductions at home and massively scaled up international support for poorer countries.

In his speech Tuesday accepting the position of presidential climate envoy, Mr. Kerry fell back on outdated and misleading talking points. “No country alone can solve this challenge. Even the United States, for all its industrial strength, is responsible for only 13% of global emissions.” The first sentence is absolutely correct. The second is an incredibly dangerous underestimation of the U.S. responsibility for the climate crisis.

In 2017, the U.S. was indeed responsible for about 13% of greenhouse gas emissions, compared to China’s 24%. But climate change is not based on a single year of emissions. The climate changes due to the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, so historical emissions over time are what really matters. Over history (since the Industrial Revolution), the United States is responsible for closer to 25% of greenhouse gas emissions—vastly more than any other single country, including China at just over half of U.S. emissions.

Old-style U.S. climate diplomacy dictated that U.S. officials ignore this basic fact in favour of finger-pointing at other countries, particularly developing economies. There is no pathway to successful global cooperation with this kind of behaviour. The only U.S. climate diplomacy that gives us a chance at solving the climate crisis is a completely new version—one in which the U.S. recognizes its true responsibility and commits to urgent action at a huge scale. The United States must pull our weight—not just throw our weight around to try to get other countries to act so that we don’t have to.

In with the New?

Donald Trump was a disaster for the climate, but a repeat of previous U.S. climate diplomacy and inaction will be a disaster, as well. Simply being better is not going to be enough. We hope that Kerry and other climate leaders in the Biden administration recognize this fact and are planning a new, less exceptionalist, more equitable vision of U.S. climate leadership.

We look forward to working with Mr. Kerry and the Biden administration to ensure that they act with the urgency the crisis demands, rather than simply going back to the failed pre-Trump status quo.

Brandon Wu is Director of Policy and Campaigns at Washington, DC-based ActionAid.

Tagsbyline-externalDrive to 1.5 National Plans & ResponsesEnergy Central - Energy Collective
Share:
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  Print This Story

Find more stories about
Carbon Levels & MeasurementClimate & SocietyClimate Impacts & AdaptationClimate Policy/Meetings/NegotiationsHuman Rights & MigrationInternational Agencies & StudiesJurisdictionsUnited States

    3 comments

    1. Byron B. Carrier 28 November, 2020 at 15:39 Reply

      Kerry can be proud of standing up to the Vietnam War madness; he should be even bolder now.

      This is a trans-national, humanity-wide threat, crisis, and opportunity.

      Beyond climate, why are we wasting our lifetimes, resources, and energy pumping up a workaholic, consumerist wasteful way? Why not more time off for life itself and more products and processes built to last or be used in a clean, self-replenishing way?

      It’s time we do as instructed, “replenish” the earth and us.

      From backyard compost to reviving the oceans, we all could be investing in our mutual bounty rather than the scarcity, strife, and stubborn stupidity of a win/lose world built on assumptions of universal selfishness.

      • Ronald chick 1 December, 2020 at 17:37 Reply

        On one hand I agree 100% on the other hand lets do ,what can be done, and get this engine moving

    2. Byron B. Carrier 28 November, 2020 at 15:46 Reply

      Rather than tepidly mollify the fossil fuel industry and lobbyists, the Dems should create a new story of mutual, worldwide betterment. Take the lead. Incorporate sensible conservative values within a larger, more generous, more successful vision. What sorts of industries, jobs, and lifetimes might we all be pursuing?

    Leave a reply Cancel reply

    Recent Posts

    • Climate Deniers Cheer Trump’s Murderous Mob as Campaigners Decry Preferential Treatment
      Climate Deniers Cheer Trump’s Murderous Mob as Campaigners Decry Preferential Treatment
      January 11, 2021
    • UK Accused of ‘Rank Hypocrisy’ After Allowing New Underground Coal Mine
      UK Accused of ‘Rank Hypocrisy’ After Allowing New Underground Coal Mine
      January 11, 2021
    • Parade of Alberta Coal Developments Threatens Recreation Areas, Biodiversity
      Parade of Alberta Coal Developments Threatens Recreation Areas, Biodiversity
      January 11, 2021
    • 2020 Ties 2016 for Hottest Year on Record
      2020 Ties 2016 for Hottest Year on Record
      January 10, 2021
    • Forest Carbon Offsets on the Agenda as France’s One Planet Summit Confronts Biodiversity Loss
      Forest Carbon Offsets on the Agenda as France’s One Planet Summit Confronts Biodiversity Loss
      January 10, 2021

    News Feed

    Top News

    • Climate-Related Hunger, Drought, Conflict to Cost Kenya $62 Billion
      January 10, 2021
    • Canada Pushes Back on ‘Unwarranted’ U.S. Solar Tariffs
      January 10, 2021

    Read More

    Carbon-Free Transition

    • Renewables Output Exceeds Fossil for First Time in Germany
      January 10, 2021
    • UK Citizens’ Assembly Prompts Participants to Change their Lives
      January 10, 2021

    Read More

    Canada

    • Canada Pushes Back on ‘Unwarranted’ U.S. Solar Tariffs
      January 10, 2021
    • Lion Electric Offers Amazon a 15.8% Share
      January 10, 2021

    Read More

    U.S.

    • North Dakota Fossils Demand Relief on Royalty Payments
      January 10, 2021
    • Systemic Racism Limits Minority Businesses’ Access to Energy Efficiency Dollars
      January 10, 2021

    Read More

    International

    • India Earmarks $60B for New Gas Infrastructure
      January 10, 2021
    • Storm Drives UK Wind Above 50% of Power Supply on Boxing Day
      January 10, 2021

    Read More

    • About the Energy Mix
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy and Copyright
    Copyright 2020 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.