Kerry: Obama's climate change targets won't be reversed
MARRAKECH - US Secretary of State John Kerry made a stirring appeal Wednesday to all countries -- including his own -- to press ahead with the fight against climate change, saying a failure to do so would be a "betrayal of devastating consequences."
Without mentioning Donald Trump by name, Kerry's speech at the UN climate talks was partly aimed at the Republican president-elect who has called global warming a "hoax" and has pledged to "cancel" the Paris deal limiting greenhouse gas emissions. "No one has the right to make decisions that affect billions of people based solely on ideology or without proper input," Kerry said.
The US election outcome has created deep uncertainty about the US role in international climate talks -- and about the Paris Agreement adopted last year by more than 190 countries. But Kerry said the U.S. was already in the midst of a clean energy transition that would continue regardless of policy-making.
"I can tell you with confidence that the United States is right now today on our way to meeting all of the international targets we have set," Kerry said. "Because of the market decisions that are being made, I do not believe that that can or will be reversed."
