(Bloomberg) — Special Presidential Envoy for Climate Change John Kerry said that investment will keep on pouring into US green technology despite Republican gains in the midterm elections.
The former senator and Democratic presidential candidate said that governments weren’t able to able to finance the energy transition, and the private sector would be the source of the trillions of dollars the world needed to build a clean energy system.
In a wide-ranging interview with Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait on Wednesday, Kerry also brushed off suggestions that informal talks with his Chinese counterpart at the COP27 climate talks marked a thawing of relations between the two countries.
“We’ve had some informal talks, but we’re not in any formal negotiation at this point,” Kerry said at the Bloomberg Green summit at the COP27 climate talks in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
Kerry said his friendship with China’s climate envoy Xie Zhenhua has been forged over years of negotiations and meetings in airports as they traveled round the world. Right now, however, that relationship is strained by Beijing’s decision to suspend talks on climate following House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.
“I certainly stand ready to negotiate,” Kerry said. “The climate crisis is not a bilateral issue.”
Kerry also defended his plan to allow businesses to get carbon credits for investments in decarbonization projects in developing countries, insisting creative approaches are necessary to accelerate the green transition, cap the world’s warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius and deploy trillions of dollars in risk-averse capital.
“You’re never going to deploy the trillions of dollars unless you have a bankable deal,” he said, adding that this new initiative aims to de-risk these investments. “We’re trying to make it possible to do that, and if people say, ‘Well, I just don’t like these things’ and ‘You can’t do that’ without thinking through the guardrails and the safety and the way it could work and be measured, then you are condemning us to absolutely pass through 1.5 degrees.”
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 100 points in late-morning trading, helped by strength in base metal and utility stocks, while U.S. stock markets were mixed.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 103.40 points at 24,542.48.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 192.31 points at 42,932.73. The S&P 500 index was up 7.14 points at 5,822.40, while the Nasdaq composite was down 9.03 points at 18,306.56.
The Canadian dollar traded for 72.61 cents US compared with 72.44 cents US on Tuesday.
The November crude oil contract was down 71 cents at US$69.87 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down eight cents at US$2.42 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$7.20 at US$2,686.10 an ounce and the December copper contract was up a penny at US$4.35 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 200 points in late-morning trading, while U.S. stock markets were also headed higher.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 205.86 points at 24,508.12.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 336.62 points at 42,790.74. The S&P 500 index was up 34.19 points at 5,814.24, while the Nasdaq composite was up 60.27 points at 18.342.32.
The Canadian dollar traded for 72.61 cents US compared with 72.71 cents US on Thursday.
The November crude oil contract was down 15 cents at US$75.70 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down two cents at US$2.65 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was down US$29.60 at US$2,668.90 an ounce and the December copper contract was up four cents at US$4.47 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 11, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was little changed in late-morning trading as the financial sector fell, but energy and base metal stocks moved higher.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 0.05 of a point at 24,224.95.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 94.31 points at 42,417.69. The S&P 500 index was down 10.91 points at 5,781.13, while the Nasdaq composite was down 29.59 points at 18,262.03.
The Canadian dollar traded for 72.71 cents US compared with 73.05 cents US on Wednesday.
The November crude oil contract was up US$1.69 at US$74.93 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was up a penny at US$2.67 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$14.70 at US$2,640.70 an ounce and the December copper contract was up two cents at US$4.42 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 10, 2024.
