Welcome to Africanews

Please select your experience

Watch Live

News

news

US Special Envoy for Climate, John Kerry, refuses to "hold all responsibility"

US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, John Kerry   -  
Copyright © africanews
SEYLLOU/AFP or licensors

Senegal

US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, John Kerry, refused to hold all responsibility for dealing with the consequences of climate change.

Speaking at the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) taking place in Dakar, Senegal, Kerry said all had to bear responsibility.

"But others, despite what the science is saying, hold back, saying, pointing the finger elsewhere "You guys create it, you guys have to cure it." Well guess what, folks? Mother Nature does not measure where the emissions come from. They don't have a label of one country or another on them. They are from all of the choices we make about how we move our vehicles, how we heat our homes, how we light our businesses", said John Kerry, US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate.

The US Special Envoy for Climate stressed the need to mitigate but also adapt to the coming changes.

"We need to adapt. We need to adapt seriously and significantly all around the world, and particularly in Africa. So yes, we need to mitigate. But in Africa and around the world, we need to adapt to this planet that is already moving towards 1.5.(degrees centigrade, ed.)", concluded John Kerry. 

China tops the list of the world's worst polluters followed by the United States.

View more