Welcome to the Pots of the World. I'm Ben Rhodes, and this is our final special episode in the lead-up to November's election, where we are looking at what the stakes are for our foreign policy and for the

entire world in a Kamala Harris and Donald Trump matchup. In this episode, we'll talk about the most

consequential issue of our time. Now, a lot of foreign policy can seem pretty distant from our lives,

but this is an issue that touches every person on the planet. It's one issue

that we quite literally cannot afford to get wrong. And talking, of course, about climate change.

Now, climate change rarely features at the top of the list for geopolitics, for foreign policy,

or for voter concerns.

And recently, there's even a sense within democracies that voters may be tired of hearing about it,

or tired of having to make sacrifices to transition away from fossil fuels to clean energy.

But here's the truth. There's no wishing this away.

Climate change is already here.

It's already driving mass migration.

It's already causing extreme weather events like the hurricanes we've recently had here in the United States.

There already are unprecedented temperatures all around the globe.

Now, no president can solve this issue on their own, nor can any one nation.

This is an existential challenge which can only be met through global cooperation and global action.

But America does have an outsized role to play here.

We are the world's largest economy.

We are one of the world's largest polluters.

And we, more than any nation, can galvanize the kind of collective action that is necessary.

So who we elect in November will have a profound impact on our efforts

to combat climate change at home and around the world. And here's the thing. We're out of time.

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