00:00Let me just start first by asking you about your level of optimism.
00:02Here we have a conversation taking place among a lot of mayors and governors from all over the world at the subnational level.
00:09That's the term that I've come to understand here.
00:11We're at a moment where national leaders in many countries aren't stepping up the way that they were.
00:16How are you feeling about the prospects for making progress on climate change?
00:20Well, David, it's really nice that you're having me today.
00:24And, you know, I want to assure people that I am literally excited about the opportunities.
00:30You know, it really feels good.
00:32There's a richness in the discussions that I haven't seen a while.
00:37I guess it's a, you know, an opportunity to forget what's going on at the federal level in the United States and to really focus on real things that real people are doing.
00:45You know, I just left a group that's talking about cleaning up the ports.
00:49That is a huge issue for communities that live around those ports that really literally have been threatened in terms of their health.
01:00And it's, and when you look at it, you know, everywhere I go, I am not hearing the downsides as much as I'm giving.
01:10People are just giving me a sense that we have the solutions of today.
01:15We have clean energy.
01:17It's cheaper.
01:17It's growing new green jobs.
01:20It is building our economy in a way that's going to benefit everyone.
01:25And so there's a richness about these discussions and a seriousness about it that I really haven't experienced at a COP before.
01:34I mentioned mayors, governors, past officials like yourself are here.
01:40How about the private sector?
01:41What is the role of private sector in this particular conference?
01:44You've been to many of these before.
01:45It's actually really fun.
01:48I'll tell you why.
01:50It's because generally the private sector has always done its own thing.
01:55And this time we see people from the private sector, and we hear all across certainly the United States,
02:02telling us that clean energy is a winner for the public sector.
02:07We are seeing them spend literally trillions of dollars moving forward to advance clean energy.
02:15They're doing it because they'll make money on it.
02:17They're doing it because they'll make money by actually advancing our health, our well-being, building our economies.
02:25So there is a synergy here now that we never had before.
02:29And I think it's because we now know how many opportunities that clean energy has to actually advance, you know, our communities moving forward.
02:40You know, mayors are excited.
02:41They're not sitting down going, ah, don't give me that.
02:44They're going saying, no, look at what's happening in my community.
02:48What is lost by not having a clear federal directive?
02:51So we had President Trump going to the U.N. General Assembly saying that climate change is a scam.
02:56There isn't the kind of robust apparatus in place that was when you were in the Obama and Biden administrations.
03:01What's lost by not having that?
03:03And if I'm a business leader, am I operating at a deficit not knowing what the federal priorities are
03:08or worrying that there is no federal priority for fighting climate change?
03:11I think your last point is a legitimate one.
03:14I think we talked about the private sector.
03:16Now, that doesn't mean they're standing up and waving the flag about the opportunities.
03:21It just means they're quietly moving forward.
03:25And I don't find that objectionable in the current atmosphere.
03:29You know, I think it's sort of a shame that the President of the United States doesn't recognize the opportunities
03:35and the hopefulness that we ought to be having today.
03:39But if they don't want to listen and if they want to deny climate and deny our ability to really grab the future for our kids,
03:48then we have to do it.
03:50And the interesting thing is that it's not punishment.
03:53It's excitement.
03:55You know, we're sitting here in this beautiful place talking to people who are literally excited about the opportunities of today.
04:04And that's the kind of hope that makes this infectious, that will keep it moving forward.
04:10And so, you know, I know I've probably said too many times how excited I am,
04:15but I'm doing that because I have been to a lot of cops in my day,
04:21but I have never really seen the United States as turned on at the state and local level in the private sector
04:29and some of our industries, the way that we are seeing this today.
04:35This is a transformation.
04:37It's not going to be stopped.
04:39We look at what's happening in Europe, and there's this debate among EU member nations
04:43about what their commitment should be until 2040 when it comes to energy emissions,
04:47some disagreement there.
04:48Taking it back to what you were just talking about, the role of COP30,
04:51how pivotal is it in the grand scheme of us making progress on this issue?
04:55It's great that people come here and get to know one another and see what they're up to,
04:58but how much does it matter whether or not there is X commitment or Y agreement?
05:02Can I be brutally honest about this?
05:05I love this meeting and organization right now around really talking about real things for real people.
05:14And we're in this kind of prelude to the leaders.
05:16We are. And so I appreciate the fact that they're going to spend a lot of time talking about percentages of reductions
05:24and what's the commitment long term that they're going to make.
05:29But frankly, I have literally no patience for that unless it translates into real action.
05:35And that's what we have yet to really see happen.
05:38And if it is action and if it does, you know, transform our ability to really grab the future, I will praise it forever.
05:48Forever. But frankly, I don't need that right now.
05:51And I don't think we need that right now.
05:54You know, we need governments to stand up.
05:56We need it when governments don't.
05:58We're going to stand up for them.
06:00And I think we just have every reason in the world to remain positive, to remain hopeful,
06:04and really just continue to grab the opportunities.
06:08I want to ask you about the level of surprise you had when President Trump did call climate change a scam.
06:13So during the first term, I think it's fair to say he stepped back from international progress on climate change.
06:18But there's really been a much more aggressive tack during this term toward it.
06:21So we were chatting about your beloved Commonwealth, what's happening in Massachusetts and Rhode Island,
06:26all these wind farms offshore, the administration effectively saying, shut those down.
06:31We don't want them. We're not going to support them.
06:32How much does that change the conversation, having a very aggressive stance from the administration
06:37when it comes to clean energy and efforts to fight climate change?
06:40Well, first of all, I think it's embarrassing.
06:43It's particularly embarrassing in the international stage.
06:48You know, we do have lots of folks that are working internationally continuously.
06:53And to have them go and have to try to explain why the President of the United States is calling climate a hoax
07:00is sort of unfathomable.
07:03You know, it just doesn't work.
07:05And so that's one point.
07:08But I think the other point is that I think people are being very kind to the United States of America vis-a-vis our international folks.
07:21They are listening to us.
07:23They're helping us join in these conversations.
07:26I think we're working together well to look at what the opportunities are internationally.
07:34And we're just going to have to keep doing that.
07:36What we cannot do is turn a blind eye to the challenges we face.
07:43And nor should we avoid going to court when there's illegal things happening in the administration
07:50that shut down wind farms, destroy opportunities for the very people that they were voted to take care of.
07:59And it's disappointing at best to see what's happening in the federal government.
08:08But I don't think it's going to weaken our ability to have relationships internationally,
08:14our ability to work together across the states, or our willingness to stand up and be counted.
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