FirstFT: John Kerry vows to keep on working to finance climate transition

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Good morning. As John Kerry prepares to hand over his responsibilities to incoming US climate envoy John Podesta he spoke to the Financial Times about his achievements since his appointment in 2021 and the challenges that lie ahead for the transition away from fossil fuels to renewables.

The 80-year-old, who has been a key figure in international climate negotiations, said the world had a “framework” for the transition but not the money.

“We have to put in place more rapidly the funding mechanisms that are going to actually fuel this transition at the pace it needs to be,” he told the FT’s climate correspondent Attracta Money.

A report by the Climate Policy Initiative think-tank said last year that climate finance must increase at least fivefold, from about $1.3tn in 2021-22, as soon as possible, to avoid the worst effects of climate change.

Asked what he would do after he leaves the Biden administration, Kerry said discussions were ongoing about the exact role but he added: “I’m going to personally try to help accelerate that process of deployment and pull the people together.”

He would be able to speak out on climate issues more clearly when no longer subject to the Hatch act, a law that restricts political activities by federal employees, he said. Read the full interview with the outgoing US climate envoy.

Here’s what else I’m keeping tabs on today:

• Kamala Harris-Benny Gantz meeting: A bitter row between Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition leader Benny Gantz has overshadowed the start of today’s meeting at the White House. Here’s more on the dispute.

• Monetary policy: Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Patrick Harker speaks at the 2024 American Council on Education Presidents and Chancellors Summit in Washington.

• Companies: American Airlines will hold its first investor conference since the pandemic. The company is expected to share its long-term strategy to expand its business and earnings.

• Supreme Court: Justices on the US Supreme Court are expected to rule today on whether former president Donald Trump can appear on the Colorado ballot. The state is one of 15 states holding “Super Tuesday” primaries tomorrow. Separately, North Dakota will hold its Republican presidential primary today.

Five more top stories

1. Oil prices steadied near their highest levels of the year after Opec+, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, agreed to extend voluntary production cuts for another three months until the end of June. The measures add to a series of output cuts by Opec+ members since 2022 designed to support prices amid rising US production and tepid global demand. Here’s the latest on the oil market.

2. Beijing is expected to resist market pressure for a much stronger stimulus to spur China’s economic recovery at its flagship annual political event this week. Thousands of delegates from all over China will descend on Beijing for the opening session of the National People’s Congress, the rubber-stamp parliament, tomorrow. Here’s what lies ahead.

3. Donald Trump enters a pivotal week in the 2024 presidential race with momentum as he prepares to lock up the Republican nomination. Trump won three more primary contests over the weekend and is expected to dominate on Super Tuesday. New polls show Trump narrowly leading Biden eight months ahead of the presidential election. Here’s the latest on the 2024 presidential election and you can sign up to our new US Election Countdown newsletter for twice-weekly updates on the campaign.

4. US defence contractors are missing out on a global military boom that has boosted their European counterparts’ share prices as legislative deadlock in Washington creates government spending uncertainty. Shares in the biggest military contractors to the Pentagon have shed most of their gains after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago while shares in European groups have soared. Here’s more on the findings.

5. Carmakers in the US are struggling to sell electric vehicles while the Chinese market powers ahead because their products are inferior, according to one of the world’s biggest battery materials manufacturers. Mathias Miedreich, chief executive of Umicore, told the FT that sales of Chinese electric cars were surging in contrast to the US due to better performance and affordability. Read the full interview.

The Big Read

The $26.5tn US Treasury market is the biggest and most liquid in the world, but growing problems could threaten its supremacy. On three occasions in the past decade, crises have precipitated a dysfunction in the market, including the 2019 repo crisis and the March 2020 market meltdown that required emergency intervention from the Federal Reserve. Such strains have pushed regulators to discuss big changes, including two rules by the Securities and Exchange Commission that promise to reshape the market and help maintain its dominance.

We’re also reading . . . 

Chart of the day

Women’s share of tech jobs has increased across advanced economies since the pandemic. The notoriously large gender gap in the tech sector has narrowed across the US, EU and the UK in the past four years, an FT analysis of official data shows. “You need a diverse workforce to make sure . . . that you find some way around any bias that is present,” said Athene Margaret Donald, professor emerita of experimental physics at the University of Cambridge.

Take a break from the news

Wine writer Hannah Crosbie joins Life & Arts podcast host Lilah Raptopoulos to discuss the tastes of young drinkers. Winemakers are targeting a new generation of oenophiles with producer backstories and more natural and organic products, including chilled reds.

Additional contributions from Grace Ramos and Benjamin Wilhelm