MADRID - The world's richest nations are failing to"behave like adults" and act firmly enough to meet global warming targets set in the Paris climate accord, former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday.
"The burden falls largely on the G20 to behave like adults, like great nations ought to," Kerry told Reuters on the sidelines of the U.N. climate talks in Madrid, referring to a grouping of top industrial economies. Environment ministers from over 190 countries have arrived in Madrid for the high-level part of the COP25 U.N. climate talks, where government officials will take over from technical experts the negotiation of outstanding issues around the Paris Agreement to limit a rise in global temperatures to between 1.5 and 2 degrees Celsius.
Former New York Mayor and Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg, who funds the initiative, arrived in Madrid on Tuesday trying to convince other countries that the United States is still a leader on climate change action despite Trump's withdrawal.
No hypocrite