Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry blamed the deaths of millions on climate change, adding that the extreme weather created by the phenomenon would result in farmers’ crops being destroyed and their homes destroyed.
On Sunday’s episode of “Inside with Jen Psaki,” on MSNBC, the former press secretary sat down with Kerry for a conversation about climate change.
John Kerry spoke with Jen Psaki on MSNBCs “Inside with Jen Psaki,” which aired Sunday, to discuss climate change. (MSNBC, aired April 23, 2023)
Psaki told Kerry that in an August poll conducted by NBC, voters ranked climate change as the fifth most important issue, behind things like the economy, immigration and cost of living.
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He then asked Kerry if he could make the case for climate change to be the most important issue, instead of the fifth most important issue.
“This is an existing issue,” Kerry said. “This is an issue where people are now dying.”
John Kerry, US presidential special envoy for climate, speaks at the 2023 CERAWeek by S&P Global conference in Houston, Texas, US, on Monday, March 6, 2023. The global energy industry is facing severe uncertainty and change — driven by the effects of the global pandemic; changing geopolitics and a war launched by one of the world’s major energy powers; high energy prices; supply chain and infrastructure constraints; and economic instability. (Photographer: Aaron M. Sprecher/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The former Democratic candidate told Psaki that 15 million people die each year from bad air quality, and another 10 million people die from extreme heat, because “it’s getting hotter.”
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Kerry also said there will be more intense weather events that will cost the country “a lot more money.”
“So, as that happens, as people see their farms, you know, their crops torn up, or their homes destroyed, you watch the pressure build,” Kerry said. “I believe we’re in a transformational moment. I think this will be one of, if not the, but it will be one of the top three issues in the ’24 presidential election. No question in my mind.”
The President’s Special Envoy for Climate John Kerry speaks about climate policies at a Washington Post event on Thursday. (C-SPAN/Video Screenshot)
Psaki and Kerry are not strangers, as she served as his spokesman at the State Department during the Obama administration.
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Last month, Yahoo News interviewed Kerry and addressed criticism against leaders who fly in private jets despite lofty climate ambitions. He told Yahoo News that those individuals are “working harder” than most to fight climate change, and made an argument in defense of traveling on the private jet he once used, suggesting that the so-called carbon offsets justify such high-carbon-footprint travel.
“They offset — they buy offsets, they offset, and they’re working harder than most people I know to try to make this transition,” he said.
A carbon offset is a reduction of carbon emissions aimed at counteracting increased emissions elsewhere.
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Despite defending his fellow world leaders, Kerry has chosen not to fly on private jets since assuming his current position at the State Department. He notably flew commercial to both United Nations climate summits that took place during his tenure as climate envoy.
