President Biden’s outgoing climate czar, John Kerry, is being mocked for suggesting that the world might “feel better” about the ongoing bloodshed in the Ukraine war if Russia cut its emissions.
“Russia is one of the largest emitters in the world. If Russia wanted to show good faith, they could go out and announce what their reductions are going to be and make a greater effort to reduce emissions,” Kerry, 80, said during a foreign press briefing in Washington DC on Tuesday.
“Maybe that would open up the door for people to feel better about what Russia is choosing to do at this point in time.”
The backlash against Kerry, who made the remarks a day before officially stepping down as Biden’s Special Presidential Envoy for Climate on Wednesday, was swift.
“At this point, the Biden admin is like a continuous SNL skit,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tx) tweeted alongside a clip of the climate czar’s comments.
“I had to listen to this three times to make sure Kerry really said this. And he did. Embarrassing beyond words, and quite frankly, utterly offensive!” International Legal Forum CEO Arsen Ostrovsky wrote on X.
Radio host Buck Sexton also chimed in, tweeting: “The insane gibberish of a climate fanatic.”
Others, too, piled on with one social media user calling Kerry a “raving lunatic” and a “climate clown.”
“Just when you think this administration can’t say anything stupider… John Kerry thinks if Russia would just announce what they are doing to reduce emissions then people would feel better about them killing Ukrainians,” another user tweeted.
Kerry’s controversial comments came after a Russian news agency reporter probed him about the US-Russian relationship tied to his climate agenda.
“I believe that Russia has the ability to be able to make enormous changes in what they really want to do. I mean, if Russia has the ability to wage a war illegally and invade another country, they ought to find the effort to be responsible on the climate issue,” the climate czar responded.
“Unfortunately, because of the actions that Russia took in an unprovoked, illegal war against another nation, we have not been engaged in discussions with Russia,” he continued.
“Sadly, and I say sadly, obviously, because it’s a loss for the world not to be able to have Russia acting constructively on this issue, but we need every country, including Russia.”
“Unfortunately, because of the actions that Russia took in an unprovoked, illegal war against another nation, we have not been engaged in discussions with Russia,” he continued.
Kerry, a former secretary of state and onetime Democratic presidential candidate, announced last month he was stepping down from the role after serving as Biden’s top climate diplomat since 2021.
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