U.S. climate envoy John Kerry warned Tuesday that global warming is making the world a more dangerous place and poses risks to peace and security around the world.
The failure to address the threats of climate change is a march towards what is almost tantamount to a reciprocal suicide treaty, ‘said Mr. Kerry said during a session of the United Nations Security Council attended by presidents and prime ministers of several countries.
“We bury our own heads in the sand,” he continued. “There is an urgent need to consider the climate crisis as an urgent security threat.”
Climate change has been on the Security Council for more than a decade, but Tuesday’s meeting was notable for its stark contrast to the past four years, when the United States, under the presidency of Donald J. Trump, tried to make even general mentions of climate science in United Nations proceedings.
“Climate disruption is a crisis intensifier and multiplier,” United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres told the Council.
Mr. Kerry notes the “inexcusable absence” of US leadership on climate change over the past four years. As president, Mr. Trump removed the United States from the Paris Agreement, the global agreement aimed at limiting greenhouse gas emissions. President Biden began the process of rejoining as soon as he was sworn in.
The Security Council has the power to impose sanctions and allow peacekeeping missions to countries, and therefore argues countries about what it should and should not address.
Mr. Kerry’s remarks were part of a diplomatic dispute that erupted among powerful countries over whether climate change should even be discussed in the world body, designed to tackle war and peace.
Russia, India and China – all one of the world’s largest producers of greenhouse gas emissions – have argued that climate change can be addressed in other ways. New global fault lines have begun to emerge.
India’s environment minister Prakash Javdekar dismissed the idea of climate change as a driver of conflict. China’s climate envoy, Xie Zhenhua, has called climate change a development issue. The Russian ambassador to the United Nations, Vassily A. Nebenzia, was philosophical about rising temperatures. “Are these really the causes of this conflict?” he asked.
The session resulted in nothing concrete. But the fact that it happened at all, and that several presidents and prime ministers participated in it, gave a signal that climate change is becoming increasingly important among United Nations member states, especially as the United States engages in it. “The Biden team’s emphasis on global warming has changed the incentive structure in the Council, and I think many states are going to address the issue this year,” said Richard Gowan, an analyst at the International Crisis Group.
Of the 21 countries where the United Nations currently employs peacekeeping forces, ten are considered the most vulnerable to climate change, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, an independent research group.
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson, whose country is serving as the rotating chairman of the Security Council this month, opened the session by saying: embracing tofu munchers and not suitable for international diplomacy and international politics. He added: “I can not agree more deeply.”
Britain is hosting the next United Nations climate negotiations to be held in Glasgow in November.