Kerry calls Trump biggest climate loser

John Kerry declared Donald Trump the biggest loser in climate policy history on Wednesday. The former secretary of state spoke at the Cop31 summit in Antalya, Turkey. He blamed the U.S. president for withdrawing from international climate efforts. Kerry argued this decision ceded the clean energy market to China.

The Trump administration did not send a delegation to the talks. The annual UN climate meeting began on Monday. Most other nations attended the session in the resort city. Kerry said the U.S. is missing a chance to compete with China in the marketplace for goods produced domestically.

Trump expressed hostility toward clean energy on Monday. He discussed potential legislation that would simplify the construction of new energy projects. The president stated he would not approve wind turbines. He called them a major loser. He previously described climate science as a hoax and urged nations to drill for more oil and gas.

Kerry responded to Trump’s comments by suggesting the president hold up a large mirror. He said the reflection would show a loser on all these issues. Kerry noted that the administration is missing the point of competitiveness with China. He said the U.S. could become the supply chain for these products.

The Biden administration passed sweeping climate legislation in recent years. The law provided tax breaks for clean energy and electric vehicle manufacturing. Republicans eliminated most of this support under the new administration. Trump imposed tariffs on various goods and directed public funds to struggling coal-fired power plants. Coal remains the dirtiest fossil fuel and a primary driver of planetary warming.

Kerry said Trump declared a desire to beat China and be number one. He walked away from the battlefield by taking America out of that sector. Kerry argued that blackballing an entire sector of the economy is not the way to achieve that goal. He urged the U.S. and the world to follow China’s lead on green energy.

Global emissions edged down slightly last year due to rapid renewable growth. This helped prevent a significant amount of fossil fuel power from coming online. UN Secretary General António Guterres told countries at Cop31 that it was long past time to phase out fossil fuel use. Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg arrived in Antalya on Tuesday. She called the summits greenwashed circuses.

Kerry acknowledged that climate was not the central issue in the recent U.S. midterm elections. He said concerns about global heating overlapped with alarm over rising energy costs. He stated that this drove voters to the Democrats. Kerry predicted that many victorious Democratic candidates would place this high on their agenda. A White House official dismissed the Cop31 talks, stating that the summit rejects reality by failing to acknowledge that extremist climate policies are destroying countries.