WASHINGTON (AP) — Two months into his new role as President Joe Biden’s top climate diplomat, John Podesta found himself faced with his first international crisis: what to serve for dinner.
He invited his Chinese colleague, Liu Zhenmin, to his home and, perhaps unsurprisingly, found that his guest only liked Chinese food (though Podesta is well known for his cooking skills, and usually prefers to cook Italian food).
“I thought this was a diplomatic challenge,” Podesta said in an interview with The Associated Press.
So Podesta created a leek and fennel risotto, a Chinese vegetable riffed on a traditional Italian dish, a culinary compromise to smooth over a crucial relationship between the world’s two great superpowers.
Very few problems can be solved by simply swapping out a few materials. Podesta has been working on climate issues for years, but the complexities and obstacles are only growing as scientists warn. Global warming has reached a dangerous level.
In the interview, Podesta said there is an opportunity to work with China to limit emissions of greenhouse gases even more potent than carbon dioxide. But disagreements over trade between the U.S. and China have created what he called “a period of some friction and competition,” and Podesta said he would push China to contribute more to the global fight against climate change.
International negotiations are not Podesta’s only responsibility. He also His previous work Speaking about the implementation of President Biden’s domestic clean energy policies, Podesta acknowledged that progress on electric vehicles has been slower than expected, but believes there is still momentum, despite efforts from the political right to “demonize” zero-emission vehicles.
Overshadowing all of Podesta’s efforts is this year’s election and the threat that Donald Trump could try even harder to reverse progress on climate change if he returns to the White House. Podesta warned of a “carte blanche for polluters.”
“They are important,” he said. “Voters can decide whether it’s important to them. They certainly are important to the planet.”
It’s a big gamble for the 75-year-old veteran of Democratic politics who recently considered retirement.
“My wife and I were on our way to California and one foot was in the car,” he joked.
Two very important roles to play
Podesta’s plans to step back from public life Biden signed the Inflation Control Act. Two years ago, Biden signed off on $375 billion in climate change legislation. Podesta worked with advocacy groups to help lay the political foundations for the legislation, which Biden tapped to oversee. Implementing financial incentives for clean technologies.
“There’s no one else in the country who knows so many government officials and knows how to get so much done in government,” said Christy Goldfuss, who previously worked at the Center for American Progress, a Democratic think tank that Podesta founded two decades ago.
Podesta’s role expanded into international politics following the retirement earlier this year of Biden’s former global climate envoy and former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. Close relationship with Chinese Premier Xie ZhenhuaHe too resigned and was replaced by Liu.
While neither Podesta nor Liu are new to climate diplomacy, “there is more uncertainty in the bilateral climate relationship than there has been in the past three years,” said Li Shuo, an analyst at the Asia Institute who previously worked for Greenpeace in Beijing.
Earlier this month, Podesta hosted Liu in Washington for their first formal meeting since taking up his new post.
“Personal relationships only help to a point, but they are important in terms of building trust that both sides can communicate to each other what is possible,” Podesta said, “and I think the meeting ended up being a positive one.”
Podesta described the conversation as give and take, saying “he pushed me and I pushed him.” The U.S. and China have an opportunity to do better in reducing methane and hydrofluorocarbon emissions, he said, and “the world is hopeful that we can find ways that we can work together.”
From Billions to Trillions for Climate
But the problem lies in an area called climate finance.
Under the 2015 Paris climate agreement, developed countries were to jointly provide developing countries with $100 billion a year in aid to adopt clean technologies and combat the effects of climate change. Developed countries met the target in 2022, two years behind schedule, according to a report released Wednesday by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Negotiators are due to set new, more ambitious targets at a summit in Azerbaijan in November.
“The challenge we face is not just about the need for billions or even hundreds of billions of dollars,” Podesta said, “but the need to mobilize trillions of dollars to transform a global economy that runs on polluting fossil fuels into one that runs on clean energy.”
China has resisted any demands to contribute its own funds, but Podesta stressed that as the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, China “has an obligation to contribute to the world.”
The U.S. is under pressure to increase its own financial contributions, but with Republican control of the House of Representatives this is difficult to do.
Joe Thwaites, an expert on the issue at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said Biden administration officials have made progress by scrounging together funds from across the federal government and looking “behind the couch cushions, so to speak.”
Trade dispute clouds climate talks
Concerns about trade with China have become more pronounced as the country boasts that its manufacturing capabilities can help transition the world to a clean-energy future, but U.S. officials worry that American workers will lose their jobs if cheap Chinese electric cars and other green products flood the U.S. market.
“There’s no question that we’re in a fierce competition right now, especially in clean technology,” Podesta said. He suggested China was revitalizing some industries and boosting exports to make up for the pandemic-induced downturn and collapse of its housing sector, describing the approach as “anti-competitive.”
Biden recently Tariff hike announced It is investing in Chinese electric vehicles, batteries and other technologies, and is also pushing U.S. automakers to build more zero-emission vehicles. Regulation and financial incentives.
“The momentum is continuing,” Podesta said, “maybe not as fast as we expected, but it’s very strong and it’s moving forward, and I think companies are fully committed to the transition to electrification.”
President Trump has criticized the focus on electric vehicles, and partisanship has influenced how drivers view the issue, creating political and cultural obstacles to reducing transportation emissions.
“I think the right has demonized electric vehicles,” Podesta said.
Dave Cook, a senior vehicle analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the rules are Relieved Over the next few years, automakers will need to step up their efforts now to meet even tougher targets in the future.
“We gave them a very easy time in the first few years,” he said. “If they don’t use that time to think about their long-term strategy, that’s going to be very problematic.”
Independent analyst reports have shown the U.S. is not on track to meet the emissions reduction targets set by Biden for 2030, but Podesta said he is not worried.
“I’m confident we can do that,” he said. “We’ve already accomplished a tremendous amount.”
He added that clean energy policy tends to be more partisan in Washington than in other parts of the country.
“The situation on the ground is changing,” Podesta said. “As we see people working in these industries, taking advantage of the investment that’s coming into our communities, and seeing the results of less pollution in general, I think this is going to be very hard to reverse.”
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This story has been corrected to show that Podesta’s title is chief climate diplomat, not global climate envoy.
