John Kerry Tells Marrakech Climate Talks Coal Investment Is “Suicide” As U.S. Delegation Ducks Fossil Fuel Influence Questions

John Kerry at Marrakech -
coal investment is "suicide".

Today at the latest round of United Nations climate talks in Marrakech, Morocco, the nonprofit Corporate Accountability International (CAI) was finally able to deliver a petition to the U.S. delegation calling for the removal of corporate interests and the fossil fuel industry from the international climate negotiations process.

The petition included a demand for the U.S. to stop opposing a conflict of interest policy that would look to limit the influence fossil fuels groups could have on the talks.

Later that day, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry criticized the continued use of fossil fuels — with a careful caveat about carbon capture and storage technology — saying at this point, the world cannot “write a big fat check enabling the widespread development of the dirtiest source of fuel in an outdated way. It just doesn’t make sense. That’s suicide.”

The CIA petition is calling out organizations such as the World Coal Association, International Emissions Trading Association (IETA), and BusinessEurope, which represent major oil, gas, and coal companies from across the world and which are given “observer” status at the UN climate summit.

Read the DeSmog Blog story - “John Kerry Tells Marrakech Climate Talks Coal Investment Is “Suicide” As U.S. Delegation Ducks Fossil Fuel Influence Questions.”

Warning about the legalities arising from Paris

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ohn Kerry, US secretary of state, has warned that December’s Paris climate change talks will not deliver a “treaty” that legally requires countries to cut their carbon emissions, exposing international divisions over how to enforce a deal.

John Kerry - no legally binding
agreement in Paris.

The EU and other countries have long argued that the accord due to be reached next month should be an “international treaty” with legally binding measures to cut emissions. But in an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Kerry insisted the agreement was “definitively not going to be a treaty”.

Read the Financial Times story - “Paris climate deal will not be a legally binding treaty.”

Kerry paints an apocalyptic vision of climate change

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John Kerry - apocalyptic vision
 of climate change.
 

ohn Kerry painted an apocalyptic vision of climate change last week as he addressed a global warming conference in Alaska.

 "You think migration is a challenge in Europe today because of extremism, wait until you see what happens when there's an absence of water, an absence of food, or one tribe fighting against another for mere survival," the US secretary of state warned. Few experts would argue with Kerry's analysis of the future, but some would argue his vision is already upon us.

Read The Independent story - “Refugee crisis: Is climate change affecting mass migration?”

Climate change is personal to John Kerry

Climate change is personal to U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry.

Speaking to the Atlantic Council he said, “Climate change is an issue that is personal to me, and it has been since the 1980s, when we were organizing the very first climate hearings in the Senate.

“In fact, it really predates that, going back to Earth Day when I’d come back from Vietnam. It was the first political thing I began to organize in Massachusetts, when citizens started to make a solid statement in this country. “And I might add that’s before we even had an Environmental Protection Agency or a Clean Water Act or Safe Drinking Water Act or a Marine Mammal Protection Act or a Coastal Zone Management Act.

“It all came out of that kind of citizen movement. And that’s what we have to be involved in now. And the reason for that is simple: For decades now, the science has been screaming at us, warning us, trying to compel us to act.”

His comments are noted on the U.S. Department of State website - “Remarks at the Atlantic Council as Part of the Road to Paris ClimateSeries”

Surprise, Suprise! Denying climate change is 'plain immoral'

Surprise, surprise!

John Kerry - denying climate
 change is just "plain immoral".

US Secretary of State John Kerry has accused climate deniers of gambling with the well-being of future generations in a recent speech to the Atlantic Council.

“It is just plain immoral,” Kerry said. “And it is a risk that no one should take. We need to face reality. There is no planet B.”

The speech was part of the Atlantic Council’s Road to Paris series, in advance of the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference.

The Paris conference is expected to be the first time that each individual country commits to a domestic plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The agreement may also include a goal on global emissions reductions, as ThinkProgress reported in December.

A story headed: “Kerry: Ignoring Climate Change Is ‘Just Plain Immoral’” tells or Kerry’s disillusionment with climate deniers.

Finally, a senior and influential politican declares climate change dangerous



U.S. secretary of state,
 John Kerry.

At last, at last, someone with true international influence, beyond the thousands of climatologists who have already sounded the warnings, has stated unambiguously that global warming is a massive difficulty facing humanity.

United States secretary of state, John Kerry, has warned Indonesians that climate change could threaten their “entire way of life”.

He has called on all nations to do more to stop global warming.

That said we can only hope that Australia’s Tony Abbott-led conservatives are listening and not wilfully deaf to the warning and so continue with their rather treacherous plan of dismantling Australia’s climate mitigation infrastructure.

The unambiguous warning comes in an ABC story headed: “John Kerry calls climate change ‘weapon of mass destruction’’.