Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Friday, Sep 12, 2025

Private sector has a key role to play in battle against climate change, says US diplomat

Private sector has a key role to play in battle against climate change, says US diplomat

The private sector is “absolutely key to our ability to be able to win” the battle against climate change, according to US climate envoy John Kerry.
Speaking during a session at the World Economic Forum on Wednesday titled “Keeping the pace on climate,” he said the world must find a way to “create the incentives that bring the private sector to the table.”

Governments alone do not have the money required to combat climate change, he added, and so the private sector needs to be involved in the global efforts to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels.

“I believe the private sector is ultimately going to get on side,” Kerry said. “I’ve met a bunch of young entrepreneurs who are doing amazing things in startups; they’re taking risks, their investors are taking risks, and they’re producing new batteries that may have a longer life that allows you to balance your entire grid. I’ve seen folks who are chasing green hydrogen.”

The number of global users of energy will increase from about 5 billion now to 9 or 10 billion in the next 30 years, he added, with demand for electricity to power services, heat and comfort rising as a result.

“And so this is a marketplace,” Kerry said. “And it has the ability to be able to move very, very rapidly, if we will create the right framework and unleash private-sector ingenuity and innovation and capacity to get this done.”

He expressed optimism about the amount of effort and investment going into new technologies to power renewable energy and limit global warming.

“I am hugely encouraged, I mean much more so than I bet at anytime in the last years, by what is happening right now, which opens up an even greater possibility of achieving this,” he said.

“Because so much human energy is going into the new technologies and the innovations that are occurring, they’re going to multiply and magnify on themselves.”

He said that emissions are still the biggest threat and the world must continue to act to reduce them.

“Our enemy is our emissions, and we have to go after the emissions and, therefore, cannot afford to build out a whole new infrastructure of one fossil fuel or another that is going to be with us for 20, 30, 40 years unless they are able to capture those emissions,” Kerry said.

“We don’t have that indication yet or even that full capacity.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
High-Stakes Trump-Putin Summit on Ukraine Underway in Alaska
Iranian Protection Offers Chinese Vehicle Shipments a Cost Advantage over Japanese and Korean Makers
Saudi Arabia accelerates renewables to curb domestic oil use
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez announce engagement
Asia-Pacific dominates world’s busiest flight routes, with South Korea’s Jeju–Seoul corridor leading global rankings
Private Welsh island with 19th-century fort listed for sale at over £3 million
Sam Altman challenges Elon Musk with plans for Neuralink rival
Australia to Recognize the State of Palestine at UN Assembly
The Collapse of the Programmer Dream: AI Experts Now the Real High-Earners
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Nine people have been hospitalized and dozens of salmonella cases have been reported after an outbreak of infections linked to certain brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
Tariffs, AI, and the Shifting U.S. Macro Landscape: Navigating a New Economic Regime
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
OpenAI’s Bold Bet: Teaching AI to Think, Not Just Chat
BP’s Largest Oil and Gas Find in 25 Years Uncovered Offshore Brazil
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
×