US climate envoy Kerry meets with pope on climate crisis

<p>VATICAN CITY &mdash; John Kerry, President Joe Biden’s climate envoy, met privately with Pope Francis on Saturday, afterward calling the pope a “compelling moral authority on the subject of the climate crisis” who has been “ahead of the curve.”</p>
<p>The former U.S. Secretary of State told Vatican News that the pope’s embrace of climate issues “hopefully can push people to greater ambition to get the job done.”</p>
<p>Kerry is visiting European capitals to strengthen cooperation on climate change ahead of the next round of U.N. climate talks in Glasgow this November. </p>
<p>Kerry said United States, the second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases after China, must take a lead in cutting emissions and be joined by other big emitting countries. </p>
<p>“Everybody shares an obligation here. No one country can get this job done. If the United States was at zero emissions tomorrow, we’d still have crisis,” Kerry said. </p>
<p>The United States, which is responsible for 11% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, has set a target under Biden of reducing emissions over the next decade by 50% to 52%, Kerry said. </p>
<p>Another 20 developed countries are responsible for 73.75% of emissions, he added. </p>
<p>“We need other big emitting countries to step up and also offer some reductions. You can’t just keep going along with a coal-fired power plant or with more coal coming online and really be the part of the solution that we need,’’ Kerry said. </p>
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