On Friday 09 December, P4P Co-Chair, Baroness Helene Hayman delivered a response to the Annual Fulbright Distinguished Lecture by US Climate Envoy, John Kerry, who spoke powerfully with a call to arms on the “Urgency of Global Climate Action.”
You can listen to Secretary Kerry's full lecture and Helene’s response, which were also covered in the Financial Times and the Guardian.
Secretary Kerry expressed concern that unabated fossil fuel projects go in “the opposite direction” to public commitments and efforts to tackling global warming and said in follow up interviews that he would be examining the likely impact on emissions of the new UK coalmine. He spoke about the economics behind tackling climate change and the cost of inaction.
To accompany the lecture, new research into attitudes and international responses towards climate change was published by King’s College London.
“My friends, our priorities on the road ahead are very straight forward. First, we must continue pressing for all major economies to align their 2030 targets with 1.5 degrees centigrade and to fulfil those targets by halting the construction of new coal, accelerating the deployment of clean energy, slashing methane emissions and halting deforestation. Second, we must deliver finance for climate action at scale…and third, most importantly, we need to demand urgency and accountability from everyone, everywhere, every day”. John Kerry, US Special Envoy for Climate
“The fundamental issue is how we persuade Government to raise its eyes from the immediate and to raise its eyes from the politically advantageous today or tomorrow - to the issues that are long-term rather than short-term and that’s a real challenge”.
Baroness Hayman, Co-Chair for Peers of the Planet