John Kerry: US will use executive actions to push through climate plan

Climate envoy says green energy investment not dependent on approval from Congress

'If we don’t reduce carbon emissions enough as a planet between 2020 and 2030, we make holding [global warming to] 1.5°C impossible,' Mr Kerry said. Reuters

US climate envoy John Kerry on Tuesday previewed some of the executive actions President Joe Biden intends to take to advance his goal of halving American carbon emissions by 2030.

This comes amid Republican opposition in Congress to proposed green energy investments.

"This is not dependent exclusively on the Congress," Mr Kerry said in an interview with The Economist, as part of its Sustainability Week USA conference.

“It is going to happen because there are rulemakings that will take place at the Environmental Protection Agency."

While Mr Biden announced his ambitious carbon emissions reduction target at a climate summit he convened in April, the White House has yet to release a comprehensive, integrated plan to meet that goal by 2030.

“That’s a critical period of time,” Mr Kerry said.

"If we don’t reduce carbon emissions enough as a planet between 2020 and 2030, we make holding [global warming to] 1.5°C impossible.

And we also make achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 impossible.”

Mr Biden's proposed $1 trillion infrastructure package includes investment in green energy technology to help curb carbon emissions.

However, Republicans have baulked at the price tag, even after the White House lowered the overall amount from an initial $2tn during weeks of negotiations.

Negotiations aside, Mr Kerry struck an optimistic note on the Biden administration's ability to meet its carbon emissions reduction goal through executive actions and private sector engagement in green energy technology.

“We’re going to have such a massive movement in the economy globally with the amount of money that is being invested and the administrative changes the president is able to put in place without the need to have congressional approval,” he said.

“There’s going to be a momentum created out of that that is going to keep the United States moving in this direction.”

He said the Energy Department, which is run by former Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm, is "already moving to embrace new technologies".

Mr Kerry also said the Biden administration is not putting a carbon tax on the table.

Within his first week in office, Mr Biden issued a broad-brush executive order to organise a federal response to the climate crisis and rejoined the Paris Climate Accord, following former president Donald Trump’s withdrawal.

US climate envoy John Kerry attends the Regional Climate Dialogue in Abu Dhabi on Sunday. This is Mr Kerry's first visit to the Middle East, and Asia, since being appointed to the role. Courtesy: Office of the UAE Special Envoy for Climate Change

US climate envoy John Kerry attends the Regional Climate Dialogue in Abu Dhabi on Sunday. This is Mr Kerry's first visit to the Middle East, and Asia, since being appointed to the role. Courtesy: Office of the UAE Special Envoy for Climate Change

Alok Sharma, President of Cop26, attends the Regional Climate Dialogue in Abu Dhabi.

The pledge issued at the end of the Regional Climate Dialogue vowed to help the most vulnerable.

Delegates at the talks in Abu Dhabi.

Abdullah Al Nuaimi, UAE Minister of Climate Change and Environment and John Kerry, US climate envoy at the dialogue.

Abdullah Al Nuaimi, UAE Minister of Climate Change and Environment, at the Regional Climate Dialogue.

The dialogue comes during a critical year in the global fight to halt rising temperatures. Courtesy: Office of the UAE Special Envoy for Climate Change

The UAE's Special Envoy for Climate Change, Dr Sultan Al Jaber, at the Regional Climate Dialogue. Courtesy: Office of the UAE Special Envoy for Climate Change

US climate envoy John Kerry is given a helicopter tour of Noor solar park, outside Abu Dhabi on Saturday. Courtesy: Office of the UAE Special Envoy for Climate Change

John Kerry speaks with Dr Sultan Al Jaber at Abu Dhabi's Shams 1 solar park on Saturday. The National

This is John Kerry's first visit to the Middle East since being appointed US climate envoy. The National

Mr Kerry has vowed to make up for the 'lost years' of the Donald Trump presidency and put the US at the forefront of efforts to protect the environment. The National

John Kerry meets Francesco La Camera, director general of International Renewable Energy Agency, which has its global headquarters in Abu Dhabi. The National

US climate envoy John Kerry visits Jubail Mangrove Park. Courtesy Office of the UAE Special Envoy for Climate Change

An aerial image of Abu Dhabi's Noor solar park. Its 3.2 million panels make it the largest single-site solar park in the world. Courtesy: Noor Abu Dhabi

Arrayed panels at Abu Dhabi's Noor solar park. Pawan Singh / The National

Mr Kerry warded off questions regarding the reliability of US leadership on the issue as the Biden administration attempts to galvanise other countries into making similarly ambitious carbon emissions reduction commitments before the UN climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland this November.

He noted that states and municipalities accounting for 80 per cent of the US population had proceeded to adapt their own laws, despite Mr Trump’s withdrawal from the climate agreement.

“People can take comfort out of the fact that when Donald Trump pulled out of the Paris agreement, the next morning, I stood up with Governor [Andrew] Cuomo, Governor [Kate] Brown, Governor [Jay] Inslee of Washington, and together we announced that while Trump was out, the American people are staying in,” Mr Kerry said.