Energy Security and Climate Initiative Media Mentions and External Appearances

I'm not sure if the population pushed the leadership, or if the leadership's interest in [climate change] moved the population along. The government's role in educating the public about climate change depends on the robustness of a country's media and other private sources of information.

Comments like those made by Trump last week undercut the soft power of the U.S. and tarnish the country's reputation - and the reputation of Trump himself. They probably create some domestic politics problems for countries that want to buy LNG from U.S. suppliers.

Neither Congress nor the administration is putting much attention on what we know would have a big impact on long-term transformation of the energy system—massive innovation and deployment of new technology. Meanwhile, the country and markets stumble on.

[On the role of the U.S. federal government in U.N. climate negotiations] I’m sure that the U.S. has lost some credibility. Dealing with the United States in an environment like this, you can’t live with ’em and you can’t live without ’em. The United States is an enormous force for good.

Increasing the transparency of pledges would make it easier for countries to pressure each other do more, which is how the Paris Agreement was designed. Countries could come back and say, ‘Here’s what has worked, what didn’t, what our progress is and what other countries can learn.' We know from other areas of international cooperation that that dynamic actually works pretty well.

[On the U.S. intention to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate] The problem isn’t really the Chinese moving forward, it’s the U.S. stepping back. We’re opening up a space by abdicating our responsibility.

[On U.S. intention to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate] Even in places like Europe, you have industry groups worried about competitiveness. [U.S. withdrawal] makes the politics in other countries that much harder.

[On finance and the Paris Agreement on climate change] Developing countries were counting on that aid as a condition of participating.The concern is that they’d become less amenable to working together in the future and the whole machinery gets gummed up.

I think there is going to be a lot of talk about what the rest of the world does with the United States’ not playing leadership roles, especially on climate.

[The government] shouldn’t do anything to retard [U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas], but they don’t need to encourage it other than just keep the regulatory process going.