'Top polluting nations must work together to come up with solution'

The world is already exceeding the crucial 1.5°C warming threshold, former US special envoy for climate John Kerry warned, urging countries engaged in the ongoing global climate conference, COP29, to work hard to find a solution, especially the 23 nations and regions most responsible for emissions.

In a wide-ranging discussion with former Indian Ambassador to the United States Navtej Sarna at the 22nd Hindustan Times Leadership Summit, Kerry highlighted alarming climate indicators including accelerated polar ice melt, rise in sea levels, increasingly intense storms, and changes in ocean chemistry due to higher acidity levels.

"Nothing that President [Joe] Biden tried to do or I tried to do in these last four years came from anything political. No idea, no politics, no liberal, conservative, one party...it was driven by mathematics and physics," said Kerry, who has served as the US Secretary of State from 2013 to 2017 and until early 2024, was the presidential special envoy on climate change.

He said that when he started his role as climate envoy in 2020, the world was heading toward a catastrophic 3.7-4 degrees of warming. While recent agreements at Glasgow, Sharm El-Sheikh, and Dubai have created potential to limit warming to 1.7 degrees if fully implemented, he warned that implementation is falling far short.