John Kerry makes the case for optimism and urgency ahead of COP31

In this episode of the All Things Sustainable podcast, we sit down with former US Secretary of State John Kerry on the sidelines of the 7th annual Building Bridges conference in Geneva, Switzerland.  

Secretary Kerry was a key architect of the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change, and in 2021 he became the inaugural US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate. In the interview, he discusses his role at previous UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties gatherings and his hopes for COP31, which will take place in Türkiye in November 2026. 

He tells us why he remains optimistic despite the challenges facing planetary and ocean health and the likely overshoot of the Paris Agreement's 1.5-degree C global warming limit.  

At the same time, Secretary Kerry calls for greater speed and urgency in addressing climate change and decarbonizing the economy.  

“We have to get the scale way up there,” he says. “We're just not moving as fast as we know we can move.”  

Secretary Kerry says conflict in the Middle East has further solidified the business case for diversifying away from dependence on oil and gas to alternative energy sources. And he points to technologies that are already available to provide clean and abundant energy, even in some historically high-emitting sectors. He describes how Galvanize — the global asset manager where he serves as Co-Executive Chair — is incorporating these technologies into its investment strategy.  

"What we recognize is that the economy has already made its own decision," he says. "The economy writ large is moving in the direction of this new energy base."  

Listen to our podcast interview with Johan Rockström, the Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research who helped develop the Planetary Boundaries framework: What planetary health means for the private sector | S&P Global 

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