Former Secretary of State and U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., was knighted by King Charles III on Wednesday.
Kerry, 81, was given the “Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George” for his efforts to tackle climate change, according to the United Kingdom’s government website.
Because Kerry is not British, he did not receive the title “sir.” Kerry is not the only Massachusetts politician to be knighted by the crown. The late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy was knighted in 2009.
As Secretary of State under President Barack Obama, Kerry signed the Paris Climate Accords on behalf of the United States in 2016. The global agreement’s goal was to keep the average global temperature from rising. During President Donald Trump’s first term in office, the United States withdrew from the accords but rejoined during President Joe Biden’s administration. When Trump was reelected, he signed an executive order on Jan. 20 to withdraw the United States from the agreement again.
During the Biden administration, Kerry served as the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate. In this role, Kerry served as the country’s lead diplomat on climate-related issues.
In a recent interview with the U.K. television station Channel 4, Kerry touted positive action regarding renewable energy, saying, “innovators and entrepreneurs are moving rapidly with new batteries, better solar fields, unbelievable geothermal — there’s a revolution taking place.”
Like Kerry, King Charles III has been active in efforts to tackle climate change. In 1970, when he was Prince of Wales, Charles gave a speech warning about the effects of plastic pollution on the environment and the importance of environmental preservation.
“Conservation or problems about pollution should not be held up as separate concepts from housing or other social schemes,” Charles said. “‘Conservation’ means being aware of the total environment that we live in. It does not mean simply preserving every hedgerow, tree, field or insect in sight, but means thinking rationally and consciously just as much about the urban environment as about the countryside.”
The Sustainable Markets Initiative, an organization aimed at using the private sector to create a sustainable future, was launched in 2020 by Charles, then Prince of Wales.
“King Charles and I share the same point of view — that there’s an urgency to doing things,“ Kerry told the Boston Globe on Wednesday. ”He’s been ahead of most folks on this from the time I can remember. … He always had a commitment to nature.”