US Climate envoy to visit Europe for climate talks; will head to London, Brussels, Paris

US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry will travel to Europe on March 8, followed by a visit to London, Brussels, and Paris next week to hold multilateral meetings and "work with European allies to strengthen global climate ambition,” US State Department announced. This will be his first in-person meeting since the coronavirus pandemic hit the nation prompting political leaders and key allies to restrict talks to a virtual platform. Kerry, who was immunized against COVID-19 last month, will hold dialogue with the UK’s representatives who will be hosting COP26 this Nov. in Glasgow. In Brussels, he will meet with European Union representatives in Belgium's capital and French officials for the environment and climate change in Paris. 

"Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry will travel to London, Brussels, and Paris March 8-10, 2021, to work with European allies to strengthen global climate ambition heading into President Biden's Leaders Summit on Climate April 22-23 and the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change later this year," US State Department’s statement read. 

At a press conference last month, organized by White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate Kerry spoke alongside National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy about the climate crisis as one of four interrelated existential crises that were gripping nations. 

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Acknowledges India's vision 

His remarks came shortly after US president Joe Biden announced that he was rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement. “The stakes on climate change just simply couldn’t be any higher than they are right now.  It is existential,” Kerry told a presser. “We have a big agenda in front of us on a global basis, and President Biden is deeply committed,” the US climate envoy said, adding that 90 percent of all of the planet’s emissions — global emissions — come from outside of the US borders. He accompanied the statement acknowledging India’s initiatives and to mitigate the climate threats, saying that "PM Modi's announcement of a target of 450 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy by 2030 is a strong terrific example of how to power a growing economy with clean energy and it's going to be one of the most important contributions in the world because India today is already the third-largest emitter in the world."

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