ODP:  President Trump does not believe climate change is a threat. If you could walk into the Oval Office and tell him one thing, what would it be?

JK:  I think Omarosa is going to have an easier time getting into his Oval Office than I would at this point, but I’d tell him that even if he couldn't care less about the environment and even if he is the only world leader on the planet who believes climate change is a hoax, then he should still want to act because I know he wants to create jobs. Fighting climate change is jobs. Good jobs. Blue collar jobs. Manufacturing jobs. Jobs that’s can’t be outsourced or off-shored.

Right now we are losing the race to create those jobs. We are set up to be America last, not America first. And I’d say, here’s the best part of it: it’s a win-win. He can create millions of jobs making the low carbon energy infrastructure of tomorrow while addressing something people he says he cares about believe is an existential threat. Talk to General Mattis. Talk to General Dunford. Speak with the military leaders who have long viewed climate change as a “threat multiplier.”  Ask farmers and fisherman about the impact of dramatic changes in weather patterns on their ability to make a living.  Listen to Christian leaders talk about the moral responsibility that human beings have to act as stewards of the planet. 

ODP:  Even though the federal government is backing away from the Paris agreement, we see states and cities and corporations stepping in and stepping up their commitment.  Do you think the U.S. can still make a valuable contribution given all these new pledges?

JK:  I talk about this everywhere I go. Trump may have pulled out of Paris, but America is still in it. Absolutely. Governors, mayors, and business leaders – including major utility companies – are living by the Paris agreement, doing everything they can to move toward cleaner energy sources, and they’re not going to stop.  The president’s abdication of responsibility complicates the climate effort, but it certainly doesn’t kill it. Even before Trump announced that he would withdraw from Paris, 29 states had passed renewal portfolio standard laws. Another eight have adopted voluntary renewable standards. Those 37 states represent 80 percent of the U.S. population.  

The fact is, the United States is moving toward low carbon energy – with or without the White House.  It is well within the realm of possibility that we meet or even exceed the targets President Obama set in 2014. 

ODP:  Mike Pompeo, the likely next Secretary of State, has said in the past that the Paris Climate Agreement is a "costly burden," and it amounted to "bow(ing) down to radical environmentalists."  If you could walk into your old office and tell him one thing, what would it be?  What would you say to your former Republican colleagues in the Senate about confirming him?

JK:  Let me put aside the confirmation question for today. But as for Director Pompeo’s comments on the Paris Agreement, I think he needs to read It first. The whole world signed up to it because it’s effective and it’s effective because it’s flexible.  Each nation is responsible for setting its own target – full stop.  Wouldn’t you like a mortgage where you could set your own interest rate and monthly payment? If President Trump thinks Obama’s target is unrealistic, he could have just changed it.  I would prefer the target become more ambitious – not less – but as President, he has the authority to set whatever emissions target he chooses. That’s true for the United States, it’s true for China – it’s true for every country, everywhere.  

We believed that giving countries this kind of flexibility could actually result in stronger targets – as countries enter a race to the top.  The U.S. and China actually set that race in motion when we got together and hammered out our respective targets together and made them public together — which were both more ambitious than anyone expected – back in 2014.  The rest of the world followed us. As Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo is going to want to see countries following our lead. That’s harder to do when they think we break our word. 

ODP: Will China or some other country eclipse the U.S. as the global leader on climate in 2018? Or have we already completely lost our leadership role?  

JK:  There’s no question. We can restore our leadership if we choose to and that’s a choice Americans can start making in November, but as a country, we are setting ourselves back in the economic competition today in a way that’s self-defeating. But we can get back where we belong. We are seeing important leadership from China and other countries, but the United States is still the largest economy in the world. Many of our partners are eager to see us play our hand effectively.

I lament that we’ve lost momentum. It’s such a self-inflicted wound.  In the United States and elsewhere, the energy market is moving toward clean energy.  That’s a fact – it’s not up for debate.  The question, of course, is whether we’ll get there in time.  That’s why activism and elections are so important – because our collective window of opportunity is closing and we need to put a massive amount of pressure on our elected leaders on both sides of the aisle to do what’s right. 

ODP:  What is the biggest development you expect to see in combating climate change in the near future?  What makes you optimistic that the world can come to grips with the climate challenges we face?

JK:  Technology is a big part of it, but the truth is we’ve had the technological capability to deal with climate change for some time if we wanted to catalyze it.  It’s a matter of political will. In part, because climate change is no longer a far-off threat – it’s a front and center threat – more and more people are getting involved in this effort.  If there’s any silver lining to the disastrous climate policies of this administration, it’s that it’s lit a fire under Americans in all 50 states to stand up for Climate Action.  

The day President Trump announced his withdrawal from Paris, the “We Are Still In” launched with more than 20 Fortune 500 companies on board, including Google, Apple, Nike, and Microsoft, as well as a host of smaller companies. It has now grown to include more than 1,500 businesses and investors, more than a dozen states and tribes, more than 200 cities and counties, and more than 300 colleges and universities.  In total, we’re talking about 2,600 leaders, representing more than 130 million Americans and $6.2 trillion of the U.S. economy. 

With this groundswell of activism – with the market moving in the right direction – with leaders around the world moving in the right direction – with technology getting cheaper and the reality of climate change presenting itself day in and day out – I still have confidence that we can stave off the worst impacts of climate change but we have to get even more focused.