Kerry touts TPP, says energy market ‘is the future’
Source: Lisa Friedman, E&E reporter • Posted: Friday, May 6, 2016
Speaking ahead of a two-day U.S.-Caribbean and Central American energy summit, Kerry talked up the Obama administration’s Pacific trade deal as key to boosting the economy of the Americas. He also looked back on more than 25 years of advocating for climate change policy.
Those efforts culminated in a global deal last year in Paris, which Kerry called “not a small thing.” Countries’ energy policy decisions, he predicted, will directly affect their economies.
“This is an enormous signal to the global marketplace that this is the future. The energy market is the future. The choices we make with respect to energy are going to define whether your country is up or down, where it’s going, whether you’re moving in the right direction or staying in the past or even moving in the wrong direction,” he said.
Kerry noted that last year, for the first time in history, more money went into clean energy projects than to fossil fuels. He told assembled heads of state and ministers a “remarkable transformation” is already taking place in the United States on wind and solar.
“So we all need to grab onto this,” Kerry said.