John Kerry, US President Joe Biden’s special envoy on climate change, was at the Oceanographic Museum on Monday for the first day of Monaco Ocean Week.
Notably, the former US Secretary of State said that the war in Ukraine should not distract us from the vital goal of limiting the increase in world temperature to 1.5 degrees.
He pointed out that climate change and the use of fossil fuels go hand in hand. Sixty percent of Russia’s income comes from the export of oil and gas, and this income stream is financing Putin’s war.
“The fastest way to send him a message is to accelerate our conversion to alternative and renewable energies,” he said.
“Look at what is happening to the Ukrainians… We cannot remain prisoners of an energy that does not come from us. We have to produce our own fuel: with the sun, wind, water, geothermal energy… All of this provides energy. There are so many ways for us to produce our energy wisely, without jeopardising the oceans and human life. Every year, 10 million people die from pollution from burning fossil fuels. It is more than Covid, than tuberculosis, than many other diseases.”
Mr Kerry said that the way in which we behave towards our oceans will determine how successful we are in keeping global warming to 1.5 degrees. “We have eight to ten years in which to act,’ he said.
FILE PHOTO: John Kerry in Moscow, July 2021 Reuters
