Biden’s climate envoy John Kerry says we need to ‘remove carbon dioxide from the air’ and criticizes Trump for leaving the Paris climate deal without ‘facts or science’
- Kerry blasted former President Trump’s climate posture as the White House hosted world leaders for virtual climate summit
- He blasted the pullout from the accord the U.S. helped negotiate ‘without any rationale that would be considered reasonable’
- He then undermined his call for science with his call to go after carbon dioxide
- Scientists are calling to reduce ozone, CFCs, and carbon monoxide
President Biden’s climate envoy John Kerry blasted the Trump Administration for pulling out of the Paris climate deal he helped negotiate – then jolted even some environmentalists when he called to pull carbon dioxide ‘out of the atmosphere.’
‘Regrettably, without any facts, without any science, without any rationale that would be considered reasonable, the former president decided to pull out,’ Kerry said of the global climate accord while speaking to reporters at the White House.
Kerry spoke during the administration’s virtual global climate summit, after the administration announced it would seek a 50 to 52 per cent reduction in U.S. carbon emissions by 2030.
Special Presidential Envoy for Climate and former Secretary of State John Kerry blasted former President Trump’s decision to pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate accord
‘Even if we get to net zero, we still need to get carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere,’ Kerry said. ‘This is a bigger challenge than a lot of people have really grabbed on to yet.’
In one remark, he compared industrialized powers like the U.S. to misbehaving adults.
‘The younger generation is today appropriately pretty upset at the adults, the alleged adults, who are not getting their act together,’ Kerry said.
Following Biden’s election, ‘We had to restore America’s credibility,’ said Kerry, a former secretary of state and presidential candidate, who took heat earlier this year when he was revealed to have flown by private jet to Iceland to accept an environmental award.
‘We had to prove that we were serious. And I think today, does that in many ways, and not in a chauvinistic – in a way that sort of inappropriate to our relationship with other countries, but in a way that reinforces the fact that this is my bilateral that we need to bring all the countries in the world at the table we all need to raise ambition,’ he said.
‘Even if we get to net zero, we still need to get carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere,’ said Kerry
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry and White House national climate advisor Gina McCarthy on Thursday at the start of the climate summit
‘That’s the central theme of this meeting. We must all raise ambition,’ Kerry said, repeatedly referencing the ‘climate crisis.’
Some environmentalists are wary of schemes to try to pull carbon out of the atmosphere, out of concern it will take the focus of requirements that producers reduce emissions.
‘It’s a really exciting statement because it shows the door is open,’ said Noah Deich, the president of DC -based think tank Carbon180, News AKMI reported.
‘The challenge that Kerry is really putting forth to the community that works on climate policy is: Let’s not pretend that 50% by 2030 or 100% by 2050 is enough. The end zone is quite a bit further than that.’
Kerry’s comments came at a summit where Biden called for redoubling U.S. efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
He pledged the U.S. will cut its emissions blamed for climate change by 50 to 52 percent by 2030, compared with 2005 levels, and to set America on a path of zero emissions economy by no later than 2050.
‘The signs are unmistakable. The science is undeniable. The cost of inaction is mounting,’ the president said in his speech kicking off his Climate Summit.
‘This is a moral imperative, an economic imperative,’ Biden argued. ‘Time is short, but I believe we can do this. And I believe that we will do. Thank you for being part of the summit.’
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