Kerry urges global bid to stem climate change

Secretary of State John Kerry gestures during a speech on climate change on Sunday, Feb. 16, 2014, in Jakarta. Kerry called for a "global solution" for climate change in the first of several speeches he will deliver this year on the topic. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci, Pool)

Secretary of State John Kerry gestures during a speech on climate change on Sunday, Feb. 16, 2014, in Jakarta. Kerry called for a "global solution" for climate change in the first of several speeches he will deliver this year on the topic. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci, Pool)

Monday, February 17, 2014

JAKARTA, Indonesia - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday called climate change perhaps the world’s “most fearsome” weapon of mass destruction and criticized those who deny its existence or question its causes, comparing them to people who insisted the Earth is flat.

In a speech to Indonesian students, civic leaders and government officials, Kerry tore into climate-changes keptics. He accused them of using shoddy science and scientists to delay steps needed to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases at the risk of imperiling the planet.

A day earlier, the U.S. and China announced an agreement to cooperate more closely on combating climate change. American officials hope that will help encourage others, including developing countries like Indonesia and India, to follow suit.

China and the United States are the biggest sources of emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases that cause the atmosphere to trap solar heat and alter the climate. Scientists say such changes are leading to drought, wildfires, rising sea levels, melting polar ice, plant and animal extinctions, and other extreme conditions.

Also in the Jakarta speech, Kerry said everyone and every country must take responsibility for the problem and act immediately.

“We simply don’t have time to let a few loud interest groups hijack the climate conversation,” he said, referring to what he called “big companies” that “don’t want to change and spend a lot of money” to act to reduce the risks.

Kerry later singled out major oil and coal concerns as the primary offenders.

“We should not allow a tiny minority of shoddy scientists and science and extreme ideologues to compete with scientific facts,” Kerry told the audience at a U.S. Embassy-run American Center in a shopping mall.

“Nor should we allow any room for those who think that the costs associated with doing the right thing outweigh the benefits.

“The science is unequivocal, and those who refuse to believe it are simply burying their heads in the sand,” Kerry said. “We don’t have time for a meeting anywhere of the Flat Earth Society.”

Kerry said the cost of inaction will far outweigh the significant expense of reducing greenhouse-gas emissions.

He outlined a litany of recent weather disasters, particularly flooding and typhoons in Asia, and their impact on commerce, agriculture, fishing and daily living conditions for billions of people.

“This city, this country, this region, is really on the front lines of climate change,” Kerry said. “It’s not an exaggeration to say that your entire way of life here is at risk.”

Warmer and more acidic seawater could reduce Indonesian fish catches by 40 percent, he said, while a 3-foot rise in the sea level would be “enough to put half of Jakarta underwater.” He cited a World Bank report warning of $1 trillion a year in flood damage by 2050 unless major efforts are made to improve Asian ports.

He added: “In a sense,climate change can now be considered the world’s largest weapon of mass destruction, perhaps even the world’s most fearsome weapon of mass destruction.”

The solution, Kerry said, is a new global energy policy that shifts reliance from fossil fuels to cleaner technologies. He noted that President Barack Obama is championing such a shift and encouraged others to appeal to their leaders to join.

The U.S.-China statement issued just after Kerry left Beijing on Saturday said the two countries agreed on steps to carry out commitments to curb greenhouse gases, including reducing vehicle emissions, improving energy efficiency of buildings and other measures.

Beijing and Washington launched a climate-change discussion last year, promising progress in five areas: reducing vehicle emissions, advanced electric power grids, capturing and storing carbon emissions, gathering greenhouse-gas data, and building efficiency.

China, India and other developing Asian economies have resisted as the U.S. urges them to commit to reductions in their carbon emissions, arguing that the United States, the world’s largest economy, should shoulder most of the economic burden.

Kerry has pointed out, however, that unilateral action by the United States will not slow the rate of global warming significantly unless other large economies also commit to carbon cuts.

China recently surpassed the United States as the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, and emissions across Asia are projected to surge in the coming decades as millions more people in the developing economies there begin to drive automobiles and gain access to electric power.

Indonesia is in third place in terms of emissions, after China and the United States. The chief source of the country’s emissions is deforestation, but as its growing population depends increasingly on electricity from cheap coal-fired power plants, the country’s emissions are expected to grow rapidly in coming decades.

Kerry was in Indonesia on the last leg of a three-nation tour of Asia that started in South Korea. After leaving Indonesia today, he planned to visit Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

Before the climate-change speech, Kerry toured Jakarta’s Istiqlal Mosque, one of the largest in the world, to pay his respects to Indonesia’s Muslim majority population. His planned meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, scheduled for today, was canceled before Kerry arrived Saturday night, a senior State Department official said, because the Indonesia leader was focusing on coordinating assistance efforts after the recent deadly eruption of a volcano. Information for this article was contributed by Matthew Lee of The Associated Press and by Michael R. Gordon and Coral Davenport of The New York Times.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 02/17/2014