Kerry announced that Boston will host a 2017 climate change summit [View all]

BEIJING – Secretary of State John F. Kerry announced Tuesday at a climate change summit that Boston will host the conference in 2017 — an event that is expected to draw some 2,000 business officials and urban leaders from across the United States and China.

Declaring that cities like Boston were “in the eye of the climate change storm,” Kerry warned mayors and civic leaders that the effects of greenhouse gases were “moving faster than anyone anticipated,” citing all-time high global temperatures and record-breaking rain in Paris and Houston. In announcing the selection of Boston as the location of next year’s summit, Kerry recognized Mayor Martin J. Walsh in the audience, saying the conference will give Massachusetts’s capital the opportunity to emerge as a global leader in the battle against climate change.


“Boston is a coastal city that understands the threat of rising sea levels and extreme weather,” Kerry said. “It has already taken extreme steps in order to reduce emissions and mitigate the harmful effects of climate change.”

Kerry’s speech served as a capstone to a climate summit that brought together mayors and other urban leaders from more than 60 cities in the United States and China. In hosting the third conference in 2017, Boston will follow Los Angeles and Beijing as cities from the world’s two largest economies cooperating in the struggle to curb emissions.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/06/07/boston-host-major-climate-summit/UvMXXRV3Q5w7OIm4Cc2ZqJ/story.html

Given that this is next year, I can only assume that Kerry is operating under the assumption that Trump does not become President! However, if he does the State Department efforts to engage cities around the world directly will be ever more important.