Democracy Sausage with Mark Kenny: John Kerry and the changing global climate

Abstract

John Kerry being appointed as President-elect Joe Biden’s special climate envoy has the potential to encourage much stronger action by the world’s nations to tackle climate change. But it comes at a time when the great powers of the US, China, and Russia are at loggerheads on a wide variety of issues. So how will the global climate change, and what does this mean for Australia? President-elect Joe Biden’s win in the US election, and his appointment of John Kerry as his special climate envoy, could finally shift global action to tackling climate change more assertively. But can the world come together to tackle this emergency even as its great powers divide on issues such as trade and the coronavirus? And where does this rapidly changing global environment leave Australia? On this Democracy Sausage, Professor Mark Kenny is joined by Professor John Blaxland and Dr Siobhan McDonnell to talk climate change, the history of disaster in Afghanistan, great power contestation, whether Australia can rise above its climate wars, and more.