United States Secretary of State John Kerry appeared before the participants of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Peru on Thursday to warn country leaders that they will be judged by future generations regarding their actions to counter climate change, The Washington Post reported.
Kerry emphasized that the time to debate the existence of global warming is over and that nations must work together immediately to come up with a conservation plan.
"You don't need a Ph.D. to see that the world is already changing," he said during the conference. "You just need to pay attention. Thirteen of the warmest years on record have occurred since 2000, with this year, again, on track to be the warmest of all."
The U.S. official then appealed to representatives from various countries that whatever they decide to do now regarding the environmental issue will have significant effects for future generations.
"If we don't lead, future generations will not forgive us," he said. "They will want to know how we together could possibly have been so blind, so ideological, so dysfunctional and frankly, so stubborn.
"We must take giant measurable clear steps forward that will put us on a new path," Kerry added.
The event on Thursday was assembled by the UN to organize an agreement detailing each country's plan to reverse the effects of climate change. This agreement will then be presented in a conference next year which will be held in Paris, according to Fox News Latino.
Kerry noted that the countries' actions must focus on utilizing renewable and clean energy.
"Make a transition towards clean energy the only policy that you'll accept," he said to the delegates. "And make it clear that an ambitious agreement in Paris is not an option, it's an urgent necessity."
President Sam Kutesa of the UN's General Assembly said on Thursday that in order to successfully reduce carbon emission through the use of clean energy, it is important for each country to tailor their economic plans based on environmental goals.
"We need to transform the current economic and social models into low carbon and ultimately climate neutral economies," Kutesa said. "Our challenge is to have a climate agreement that promotes socio-economic development in a sustainable manner."
