Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is like chalk and cheese. Essentially, we have gone from an American Administration in Washington DC that really denied there was a climate emergency at all to one that wants to be a global leader with the ambition around the required response to deliver the targets of 2030 and 2050, which are dramatic.

The truth is that if the US and EU combined are not effectively a force for change, this cannot and will not happen. This is not the first time Mr. Kerry has reached out to the Foreign Affairs Council and it is the second time we have had a nearly two-hour discussion with him on the level of ambition that comes with both the US and EU working together trying to deliver global action.

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