America's Secret Sauce Is At Risk, UK Climate Envoy Told SXSW London
King Charles III at SXSW London - from Royal Family website
SXSW London last week drew a panoply of high-level speakers, from His Majesty, King Charles III, to Idris Elba, Orlando Bloom and Bryce Dallas Howard, to business leaders from across the U.K. and the global economy. This was the first SXSW outside the annual Austin, Texas event. A few other government leaders spoke too, including Rachel Kyte, UK Climate Envoy, who spoke at SXSW London's Nature & Climate House, which was hosted by Bellwethers Group.
As usual, Rachel Kyte did not mince words, while also showing her diplomatic skills.
Rachel Kyte (l), UK Climate Envoy & David Gelles of The New York Times, at Nature & Climate House, ... More SXSW London
SXSW London Street sign
She added that, 'the reason why people maybe vote for a populous party or for a party, fringe either the left or the right, they vote because they feel insecure economically, they feel socially insecure, and they're just not sure that the direction of travel is going to go up and not down. And we have to get into that faith.'
Map of funding distributed by Inflation Reduction Act etc. - whitehouse.gov
Gelles pointed out that the Biden administration's investments in clean energy boosted the U.S.'s ability to compete with China in building a clean energy-climate resilient economy. But the Trump administration is trying to gut it all, and knee-capping the scientific community and the climate movement in the U.S., including 'firing scientists, upending regulations,' and defunding and closing scientific research centers.
What does Kyte think of the Trump administration's actions?
'The second thing I think, is that the loss of the climate team at NASA is fundamentally disruptive to the global enterprise of understanding what climate change is and how it's affecting the planet,' Kyte stressed, adding that, because its work was 'fundamental to the work of the (U.N.) International Panel on Climate Change,' that 'the destruction of NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the National Weather Service) has a huge impact, not just on the United States.'
Demonstrators attend rally outside National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration headquarters to ... More oppose the recent worker firings, in Sliver Spring, Md., on Monday, March 3, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Kyte added that these cuts are 'scary' for anyone in the U.S., especially as hurricane season begins. Kyte lived in the U.S. for 15 years, including when she served as Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and CEO of Sustainable Energy for All.
'Americans are less secure,' Kyte warned. As a result of the Trump administration's actions, 'There are going to be less well paid jobs in the renewable energy sector for sure, and, these (actions) are undermining or hollowing out the potential for green growth.'
'The future is cleaner energy,' she added, 'and it is remarkable that that would not be the secret sauce of the future of a strong America.'
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