What does John Kerry’s whistle-stop tour of Europe say about US climate ambitions?

US special envoy’s visit to London and Brussels signifies a commitment to prioritising climate action ahead of Cop26, experts tell Daisy Dunne

Ex-secretary of state has ‘renewed hope’ after meeting Boris Johnson (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

John Kerry, the US special envoy for climate, left London “with renewed hope” on Tuesday after meeting with Boris Johnson, chancellor Rishi Sunak and climate tsar Alok Sharma on Monday, according to a tweet from his official account.

Mr Kerry is in Europe for a three-day whistle-stop tour to meet with leaders ahead of a series of key climate summits that are to be held in the coming months. Today, Mr Kerry met with Ursula von der Leyen and others from the European Commission in Brussels.

“Working together, the US and European Union will rally all the major economies to quickly strengthen their climate ambition,” he said in a second tweet.

Mr Kerry’s in-person meetings with leaders in Europe send a strong signal on US climate ambitions, says Tom Evans, a researcher of climate diplomacy at the think tank E3G.

“This is the rejuvenation of US international climate diplomacy,” he tells The Independent.

“We haven’t seen any other in-person diplomacy from the new US administration yet so the fact that this is very much the first foreign trip emphasises how central climate is now as a geopolitical issue.”

Mr Kerry’s visit to Europe comes ahead of a climate summit hosted by Joe Biden, which is to be held on Earth Day in April. The goal is to get the world’s biggest emitters to commit to tougher measures to tackle the climate crisis.

This meeting will be followed by Cop26, a crucial round of UN climate talks that will be held in Glasgow in November. Mr Sharma, the UK minister who has been appointed Cop26 president, met with Mr Kerry in London yesterday.

After the closed-door discussion, the pair issued a joint statement saying they had “resolved to work closely together to reduce [their] own emissions and to rally all countries, and most especially the world’s major economies, to strengthen their climate ambition”.

“Our countries are fully committed to achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions no later than 2050,” they added.

“We urge all countries to take the steps needed to keep a 1.5C temperature limit within reach, including through ambitious and long-term strategies to cut emissions and reach net zero.”

The call for tougher measures comes after a UN report released in February found that new climate plans put forward by countries by the end of last year would cause emissions to fall by just 1 per cent by 2030, when compared with levels in 2010.

It said tougher measures were needed from every country if the world was to try to limit global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, the aspirational target set by the Paris Agreement.

The meeting of Mr Sharma and Mr Kerry was a “key early opportunity to kickstart an ambitious shared climate agenda”, says Brendan Guy, a climate strategist at Natural Resources Defense Council.

“By synchronising their diplomacy, the US, UK, and EU can boost efforts to strengthen climate ambition from all major emitters this year into near-term alignment with net zero global emissions by 2050,” he tells The Independent.

The US – the world’s second largest greenhouse gas emitter – is itself facing pressure to put forward a new climate plan, which are known as “nationally determined contributions”, after four years of inaction from former president Donald Trump.

“I think the administration understands that there are very high expectations of them to produce an ambitious target,” Pete Betts, the former lead climate negotiator for the UK and EU, tells The Independent.

“It is significant that they are reaching out to work with the Europeans, and to align views where possible. And I would also expect the Americans to be signalling that they understand that they need to deliver something ambitious themselves.”

Mr Kerry’s visit to Europe is likely to be the start of the ramping up of diplomatic meetings in the run up to Cop26, adds Mr Evans.

“It’s great that you know we have these first meetings to kind of set the agenda together,” he says.

“But if we don’t see action being delivered over the next few months, that’s when we need to raise the questions as to whether these countries are doing enough. At the end of the day, we’ve only got eight months ahead of Cop26 – and there’s a long to-do list.”