This story was originally published by The Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.
The U.S. has marked its return to the Paris Agreement by urging countries to do more to confront the climate crisis, with America’s climate envoy, John Kerry, warning that international talks this year are the “last, best hope” of avoiding catastrophic global heating.
On Friday, the U.S. officially returned to the Paris climate accord, 107 days after it left at the behest of former president Donald Trump. Joe Biden moved to reverse this on his first day in office, and Kerry conceded that the U.S. is returning “with a lot of humility, for the agony of the last four years.”
“This is a significant day, a day that never had to happen,” Kerry said to Al Gore, the former U.S. vice president, in a conversation filmed on the eve of the re-entry. “It’s so sad that our previous president without any scientific basis or any legitimate economic rationale decided to pull America out. It hurt us and it hurt the world.”
The contrition of the Biden administration is, however, balanced by a desire to resume the mantle of leadership at a time when almos... Read more
