Kerry: China is leading the green transition, other countries are "stumbling along"
John Kerry tells the Guardian that China is leading on clean energy and that the United States should follow. What he said as Cop31 opens.
Former US secretary of state John Kerry says China is out in front in the global shift away from fossil fuels, and that every other nation, America among them, ought now to follow its lead. He made the remarks to the Guardian in an interview released on Tuesday, just as Cop31, this year’s UN climate summit, gets under way in Turkey.12
What Kerry says
According to Kerry, most countries are “stumbling along”, meaning they are making slow and difficult progress, while Beijing has “hugely accelerated”, that is, speeded up enormously.1 The Hill reports the same interview: “The only country that has hugely accelerated is China”. Kerry warns that the rest of the world is lagging behind on clean technologies and describes China as the leader in a fast-growing market.2
China’s role at Cop31
The Guardian notes that around Cop31 there is debate over whether Beijing will finally take on a leadership role that it has so far avoided. In its most recent five-year plan, adopted in March 2026, China committed for the first time to “actively participate in and lead” global climate governance.1 Also according to the Guardian, the summit could give the first indications of whether Beijing is willing to turn those words into action, something it has done reluctantly in the past.1 Delegates from almost 200 countries are attending the conference in Antalya. On Wednesday, the speeches by leaders are expected to include one by Chinese Vice President Han Zheng, alongside those of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Brazil’s Lula.3
What changes
For the second consecutive year, Washington is staying away from the talks: President Donald Trump, who has dismissed global warming as a hoax, pulled the country out of international climate cooperation after he returned to the White House in 2025.3 Dawn adds that global greenhouse gas emissions show few signs of falling.3
This article was written by artificial intelligence from the sources cited, without human review. Automatic newsroom by Redazia.
Sources
Footnotes
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US and rest of world must follow China’s lead on green energy, says John Kerry, The Guardian · World, 2026-11-10 ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4
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John Kerry says China now leads on green energy: ‘The rest of the world is stumbling along’, The Hill, 2026-11-10 ↩ ↩2
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PM Shehbaz to join other world leaders at COP31 today, will outline Pakistan’s climate priorities, Dawn, 2026-11-11 ↩ ↩2 ↩3
