John Kerry: US committed to tackling climate crisis despite fossil fuel growth

The US continues to be a force for good in tackling the climate crisis, despite its soaring fossil fuel production, the John Kerry has insisted.

The outgoing US climate chief acknowledged, however, that strong safeguards were needed to dismantle oil and gas infrastructure before the switch to renewables could become permanent, as he prepared to leave his post as special presidential envoy.

“I don’t agree that we are a force for ill,” he told the Guardian in an interview at the US embassy in London to mark his departure from government. “We are living up to our obligations to transition … we are in transition, and as our renewables come online they [fossil fuels] are going out at a very rapid rate.”

The US, the world’s largest economy, is also the largest oil and gas producer, as fracking and exploration have burgeoned in response to rising fossil fuel prices. The US president, Joe Biden, called a pause on export permits in January, but experts say this will not be enough to halt the rapid expansion that the bonanza has engendered.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/04/john-kerry-us-committed-to-tackling-climate-crisis-despite-fossil-fuel-growth