Former Secretary of State and current Biden Climate Czar John Kerry is reacting to the news of Putin's invasion into Ukraine by issuing concerns about how the conflict will increase emissions. He's also concerned attention will be diverted away from his climate change agenda as Putin bombs civilians and hospitals.
"There will be massive emissions consequences to the war but equally and importantly, you're going to lose people's focus, you're going to lose, certainly big country attention because they will be diverted and I think it could have a damaging impact," Kerry said during a recent interview with the BBC. "Hopefully President Putin would realize that in the northern part of his country they used to live on 66 percent of a nation that was over frozen land, now it's thawing and his infrastructure is at risk and the people of Russia are at risk. I hope President Putin will help us stay on track with respect for what we need to do on climate."
Former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on BBC Arabic: The Ukraine Crisis Could Distract the World from the Climate Crisis While Having Massive Emissions Consequences #RussiaUkraineConflict #UkraineRussie #UkraineRussiaCrisis #ClimateCrisis @JohnKerry @ClimateEnvoy pic.twitter.com/nsOC1iZeGm
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) February 24, 2022
President Biden has made climate change a center piece of his foreign policy approach, which explains a lot about how after 80 years, there's a new war in Europe.
When the “climate crisis” is at the center of U.S. foreign policy, you no longer have an actual foreign policy. Expect countries like Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea to take advantage of our non-existent leadership and our foreign policy that isn’t based in reality. https://t.co/DZwWqyksal
— Nick Short ?? (@PoliticalShort) February 24, 2022
As a reminder, Kerry travels the world on a private jet advocating for non-elites to sacrifice the fossil fuels that make their lives better.