Jennifer Rene Psaki, John Forbes Kerry, and Regina McCarthy

“ The stakes on climate change just simply couldn’t be any higher than they are right now. It is existential. We use that word too easily, and we throw it away. But we have a big agenda in front of us on a global basis, and President Biden is deeply committed — totally seized by this issue, as you can tell by this executive order and by the other — the initiative for getting back into Paris immediately. ”

“ So this is not a choice between having jobs, having good jobs, having the quality of life. Quality of life will be better when Gina has put her team together that produces choices for us that are healthier, less cancer, cleaner air. The greatest — the greatest cost in America, the greatest cause of children being hospitalized every summer in the United States — we spent $55 billion a year on it — is environmentally induced asthma. ”

“ And if you look at the record over the past four years, while the prior administration might have wanted energy — clean energy to head in a different direction, it’s gone faster and farther than anyone ever expected.
And the idea that we could, with this new work that we’re doing together, send signals to the marketplace, who are purchasing at the federal level and are re-looking at different ways of having on-the-ground change — we can build that demand. We can actually grow, significantly, millions of clean energy jobs. ”

“ So we’re creatively looking at those opportunities for investment, so that we can get people understanding that we are not trying to take away jobs. Remember when — when we say “climate change,” eventually, people are going to think “jobs,” just like President Biden when he hears the words “climate change.”
And so we’ll do everything we can to recognize that revitalization is necessary in these communities, to find creative ways to put them to work. ”

“ So today is a very big day for science and for our efforts to power our economy with good-paying union jobs.
Thank you very much.
SECRETARY KERRY: Good afternoon, everybody. It’s great to be here. Let me say, first of all, what a pleasure it is to be here with Gina. I’m a big fan of Gina’s. Gina and I worked very, very closely together during the campaign, when we sat down to bring the Bernie Sanders folks together around the Biden climate plan. And she is the perfect person to be tackling the domestic side of this equation, which is complicated. ”

“ And can I just add on your comment about China, which — I’m not going to speak to the international dynamic, but I am going to say that part of the challenge that we face here is a challenge that President Biden has already started to address with his Buy American Pledge. We have to start, not just going — shifting to clean energy, but it has to be manufactured in the United States of America — you know, not in other countries. And there is going to be a large discussion about how we make sure that a lot of the investment is about building up our manufacturing base again. That’s great jobs. ”

“ It directs the Department of Health and Human Services to create an Office of Climate Change and Health Equity because, after all, climate change is the most significant public health challenge of our time. ”

“ And the President of the United States has expressed, in every comment he has made about climate, the need to grow the new jobs that pay better, that are cleaner, that —
I mean, you know, you look at the consequences of black lung for a miner, for instance, and measure that against the fastest-growing job in the United States before COVID was solar power technician. The same people can do those jobs, but the choice of doing the solar power one now is a better choice. ”

“ And I think that, unfortunately, workers have been fed a false narrative. No surprise, right? For the last few years, they’ve been fed the notion that, somehow, dealing with climate is coming at their expense. No, it’s not. What’s happening to them is happening because of other market forces already taking place.
And what the — what the — what the financiers, the big banks, the asset managers, private investors, venture capital are all discovering is: There’s a lot of money to be made in the creation of these new jobs in these sectors. ”

“ But if you look at this, it also has set up a task force that is looking at these coal communities — communities that are really reliant on their local energy and utility, and it talks about how do we revitalize those economies. And it talks about how we can put people to work, using the skills they currently have, where they are, to start looking at those old abandoned oil and gas wells that are spewing out methane or all of the coal that that is — mines that haven’t been properly closed that are doing the same. ”

“ But climate is a critical standalone issue that we have to deal on in the sense that China is 30 percent of the emissions of the world; we’re about 15 percent of the emissions of the world. You add the EU to that, and you got three entities that are more than 55 percent or so.
So it’s urgent that we find a way to compartmentalize, to move forward. And we’ll wait and see.
But President Biden is very, very clear about the need to address the other issues with China. And I know some people have been concerned. Nothing is going to be siphoned off into one area from another. ”

“ President Biden’s order establishes a Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities because we have to make sure that, in this transition, every agency in government is using every tool at their disposal to drive resources to those communities. And it fulfills longstanding commitments to leverage our vast natural resources to contribute to our clean energy future. ”

“ I just want to call attention to the fact that cities and states have really picked up the initiative to move forward on clean energy because the solutions are cheap. The solutions compete effectively against fossil fuels.We are talking about solutions that we’re not asking anybody to sacrifice, but are to their advantage. ”

“ And it tasks the Department of Justice with establishing an Office of Climate Justice because we know the communities who are being hurt, and we know we have to start enforcing the standards today and ensuring that they are part of the solution and in places that we can invest. In fact, it commits 40 percent of our investment in clean energy towards disadvantaged communities so they can benefit from the new jobs that are available and see that better future. ”

“ There are 1,453 days left in this administration, and addressing climate and the crisis of climate is an issue that the President has conveyed to members of his Cabinet and members of his senior team as an absolute priority.So, Secretary Yellen has been in her role for one day, but certainly I’d send you to them for any more specifics. But this is the beginning, not the end, of our work on climate. ”

“ It’s imperative that we get to the bottom of the early days of the pandemic in China, and we’ve been supportive of an international investigation that we feel should be robust and clear.We — our view is that we must prepare to draw on information collected and analyzed by our intelligence community, which is something that is ongoing, and to work — and also to continue to work with our allies to evaluate the report’s credibility on the investigation once it’s done. ”

“ So what President Biden wants to do is make sure those folks have better choices, that they have alternatives, that they can be the people who go to work to make the solar panels — that we’re making them here at home. ”

“ Someone probably will, and the answer will be that I think we can achieve things in the course of the next four years that will move the marketplace, the private sector, global finance, innovation, and research that, in fact, no — no one, no political person in the future would be able to undo what the planet is going to be organizing over these next months and years. ”

“ But our team is, of course — our economic team, including Secretary Yellen and others, are monitoring the situation. It’s a good reminder, though, that the stock market isn’t the only measure of the health of our econom- — of our economy. It doesn’t reflect how working and middle-class families are doing.As you all know from covering this, we’re in the midst of a K-shaped recovery. America’s workers are struggling to make ends meet, which is why the President has introduced this urgent package to get immediate relief to families. ”

“ That has great impact on climate, but also will keep an opportunity for those — for those individual workers to have work in their own communities. We’re not going to ask people to go from the middle of Ohio or Pennsylvania and ship out to the coast to have solar jobs. You know, solar jobs will be everywhere, but we need to put people to work in their own communities. ”

“ Seventy-five percent, seventy percent of all the electricity that’s come on line in the United States in the last few years came from renewables, not — you know, coal plants have been closing over the last 20 years. ”

“ And I think that workers are going to see that, with the efforts of the Biden administration, they’re going to have a much better set of choices, and, frankly, it will create more jobs than stuck where we were. ”

“ And the Office of Public Engagement, led by Cedric Richmond, briefed civil rights groups yesterday, including the NAACP, the National Action Network, Justice Action Network, Urban League, Coalition of Black Civic Participation, and Black Women’s Roundtable. Today they have meetings with labor leaders, advocates for young people, as well as organizations dedicated to building wealth in the black community. ”

“ That’s work that we should be doing here. That’s work that inevitably is going to be necessary to rebuild our infrastructure, which is also one of the biggest opportunities we have for job growth moving forward. ”

“ We’re confident that Congress will move forward with a package.
Let me just go — oh, we got to wrap up soon. Okay, I’m sorry. We’ll do more questions tomorrow, but we had two such great guests.
Jen, go ahead.
Q Thanks. I just have two quick questions. One is just on the climate actions today. They leave out Treasury’s Financial Stability Oversight Council, which experts say could play an influential role in addressing climate risks. Does the administration have plans to take action on climate finance? And should FSOC direct agencies and regulators to address climate change? ”

“ Secretary, if you would, there’s — there certainly are oil and gas industry workers who are watching you both right now who will hear the message that’s — that the takeaway to them is that they are seeing an end to their livelihoods. ”

“ Q Regarding COVID, the President promised to increase supply to states by 10 million doses, yet statistics shows that 47 percent of Americans are hesitant to take the vaccine, despite that the President and the Vice President took it publicly. What is the administration doing to convince Americans to take it to reach the herd immunity by, say, 70 percent by the fall? MS. PSAKI: You’re absolutely right, Nadia, that this is one of the biggest challenges we face. And for anyone who tuned in to the briefing that our health team led this morning, it was one of the first issues that CDC Director Dr. ”

“ Q And $2 trillion price tag — $2 trillion for COVID, $2 trillion for this — is a lot of money to a lot of Americans. SECRETARY KERRY: It is real money, and yes, it’s a lot of money. But you know what? It costs a lot more if you don’t do the things we need to do. It costs a lot more. There are countless economic analyses now that show that it is now cheaper to deal with the crisis of climate than it is to ignore it.We spent $265 billion, two years ago, on three — three storms: Irma, Harvey, and Maria. ”

“ Could I just add by pointing out a couple of things in the executive order that I want you to just call to your attention?We talked about the Civilian Conservation Corps. That is an opportunity to put younger people into work in vitally important efforts. ”

“ As you know, the President talked about — has talked about his commitment and his goal of reopening most K-8 schools within 100 days. There are obviously a number of steps that will need to be taken in order for that to be possible. ”

“ Senior White House officials are also engaging with not just congressional leaders, but also state and local officials, key constituency groups, and others to gather feedback on the proposal and move the package forward. ”