By Emma Sylves-Berry
As the first-ever Special Presidential Envoy for Climate (SPEC), former Secretary of State John Kerry leads U.S. diplomatic efforts to reassert U.S. climate leadership and raise global ambition to meet the world’s daunting climate challenge. After traveling to London, Brussels, and Paris in March, Kerry traveled to Abu Dhabi, New Delhi, and Dhaka in early April.
In Abu Dhabi, Kerry met with senior government officials from the United Arab Emirates and with other Gulf Cooperation Council member countries’ governments. They discussed working together to advance the decarbonization of their economies, mobilize investments to finance climate action, and protect the most vulnerable from the impacts of climate change.
In New Delhi, Kerry met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss the value of enhanced bilateral cooperation across multiple areas. These areas include mobilizing finance to support clean energy deployment at scale; cooperating on adaptation and resilience; and collaborating on innovation and scaling up emerging technologies such as energy storage, green hydrogen, clean industrial processes, and sustainable urbanization and agriculture. Kerry also met with other representatives of the Indian government and civil society leaders, including a roundtable with women leaders in energy and climate change.
Kerry’s final stop was to Bangladesh’s capital city Dhaka. There, he met with representatives from the government of Bangladesh to discuss how the United States, Bangladesh, and other climate-vulnerable countries can work more closely to advance climate resilience and adaptation. He also wanted to raise ambition for mitigation action in the run-up to the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow. Kerry highlighted the upcoming launch of USAID’s multi-year project of up to $17 million called Bangladesh Advancing Development and Growth through Energy. This multi-year initiative will expand Bangladesh’s access to affordable clean energy, support clean energy entrepreneurship, foster transparent and efficient energy markets, and advance innovation.
Emma Sylves-Berry served as an intern for the Office of Policy and Public Outreach within the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs.
