John Kerry on the Outcomes of the COP25 Climate Summit

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: So, tell me, you were at the COP25 in Madrid. And I said key nations. The United States is one of the nations that is being blamed for holding up meaningful progress.

JOHN KERRY, FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Well, it should be blamed. Unfortunately, I hate to say it as an American. But the fact is, Brazil and the United States were key among those reluctant to move forward. Australia was another. And to some degree, Saudi Arabia. But, you know, the absence of the United States of America as the leader is the biggest restraint on the ability to move forward. When President Obama was in, you know, Vice President Biden, they were all invested in moving forward and getting Paris done. And so, we went to China. I remember going myself to negotiate with President Xi, we brought the Chinese on board. And a year later, President Xi and President Obama were able to stand up and offer leadership to the world. And we said we were going to reduce emissions by the following. That is what created some of the momentum that brought us China. This time, you have the Trump administration, not just not there in a meaningful way, leading the charge, you have President Trump himself blaming China for the problem of the global climate change and says it’s a hoax. That it’s a Chinese hoax. This is ignoring all science, ignoring all evidence, the fact is we’re going to blow by the 1.5, the danger 2. If you do everything that we set out to do in Paris, you’re still going to see a warming of up to 3.7 degrees. So, we’re in trouble. And the absence of success in Madrid is infuriating and everybody ought to be really motivated and angry. And now, we have to go to Glasgow next year, raise the ambition and get the job done.

AMANPOUR: How is it really going to get done? I mean, do you think it will get done? When you here Antonio Guterres being so disappointed —

KERRY: Yes.

AMANPOUR: — and when see the three or four countries that you’ve talked about dragging their feet and putting such a big role on, you know, on the final sort of communique and the rest of it.

KERRY: Right.

AMANPOUR: And — but even up until then, countries hadn’t been meeting their Paris targets. Even before Madrid.

KERRY: Well countries have been on a track to try to get there. In the United States, for instance, many people don’t know this, we have 38 states that have passed renewable laws for use for renewable energy. We have 1,200 mayors or more, mayor of every major city in America is still in Paris. So, Donald Trump pulled out of Paris with the American people, 80 percent of them represented in those states are still in it. So, I think we’re going to make progress. The raise here, Christiane, is whether or not we’re going get there in time. Right now, we’re not. And that’s why young people are demonstrating. I mean, they have every reason to be angry about this. And they are the conscience of the world right now saying, hey, adults, get the job done.