The United States, Russia and other Arctic countries looked past Ukraine’s civil war and other tensions Friday, vowing to cooperate on preventing oil spills near the North Pole and combating climate change in a region warming faster than any other.
Assuming the chair of the eight-nation Arctic Council, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said nations needed to significantly reduce emissions of black carbon and methane, short-lived greenhouse gases that are particularly potent sources of the Arctic’s warming. He said firm reduction goals would be set at the next meeting of ministers in 2017 in Alaska. “These pollutants are a threat to everybody,” Kerry said.
