In the first Policy Guidance he has issued as the U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry instructed top U.S. diplomats to make climate change a priority for all relevant personnel and promote concerted action at posts and in host countries to address the problem. 

In an accompanying personal message, Kerry made it clear that he is not a climate skeptic.  “Protecting our environment and meeting the challenge of global climate change is a critical mission for me as our country’s top diplomat,” wrote Kerry.  “One thing’s for sure:  there’s no time to lose.  The scientific facts are coming back to us in a stronger fashion and with greater urgency than ever before.” 

In a recent address in Jakarta, Kerry said that climate change ranks in importance with terrorism, epidemics, poverty, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction as a global threat.

New international agreement

The guidance lists seven practical measures that will be applied within the State Department:

• Lead by example through strong action at home and abroad: Making significant progress in combating climate change through domestic actions within the department and at the federal, regional, and local level.
• Conclude a new international climate change agreement: Working through the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change to negotiate a new, ambitious international climate agreement applicable to all countries by 2015 to take effect in 2020.
• Implement the Global Climate Change Initiative:  Undertaking a pragmatic, whole-of-government approach to speed the transition to a low-carbon, climate-resilient future, including promoting clean energy solutions; slowing, halting, and reversing emissions from land use; and helping the most vulnerable countries strengthen climate resilience.
• Enhance multilateral engagement:  Helping lead efforts, including the Major Economies Forum, Clean Energy Ministerial, Montreal Protocol, and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-Lived Climate Pollutants.
• Expand bilateral engagement:  Engaging more than 50 partner countries on clean energy, sustainable landscapes, and adaptation, including the largest greenhouse gas emitters in the developing world.
• Mobilize financial resources:  Working to mobilize and leverage billions of dollars of funding to transform our energy economies and promote sustainable land use, as well as working to limit public incentives for high-carbon energy production and fossil fuels.
• Integrate climate change with other priorities:  Better integrating climate solutions into cross-cutting challenges, including women’s empowerment, urbanization, conflict and national security, and our own management and operations.

Keystone decision is near

By the end of March, Kerry and President Obama are expected to make a final decision on whether to grant a Presidential Permit for the Keystone XL pipeline.  Supporters of the project believe it is needed to create U.S. jobs and strengthen America’s energy security.  Opponents argue that the project will generate 3,740 million metric tons of additional climate change pollution over the 50-year lifetime of the pipeline.

A State Department fact sheet on climate change as a U.S. top priority