U.S. must transition to clean energy future, provide climate change action through finance to developing nations

NEW YORK — Secretary of State John Kerry plans to join world leaders in the celebratory signing of the Paris climate agreement in New York tomorrow. In lieu of celebration, U.S. civil society leaders are urging the Obama administration to take immediate, aggressive action in order to give the world a fighting chance to meet the agreement’s goals.

The Paris agreement acknowledges the urgent need to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels to avoid catastrophic climate change, but the greenhouse gas pollution-cutting pledges of signatory countries fall critically short of meeting this critical target.

The U.S. has played a major role in the agreement’s inadequacy. It has refused to do its fair share and take responsibility for the country’s historical contribution to today’s global climate emergency. Instead, the U.S. has unjustly shifted this burden to the developing countries in the Global South and has failed to provide its fair share of financial support to enable developing countries to take meaningful climate change action.

 

 

 

Fighting the Crisis

To fight the climate crisis, the U.S. must keep fossil fuels in the ground, undertake a clean energy revolution, and provide the Global South with the financial and technological assistance demanded by science, equity, and justice.

Statements from civil society groups:

Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch, said, “The Paris Treaty is largely symbolic and wholly toothless in dealing with the threat of climate change. The only thing that will avert climate catastrophe is swift action on behalf of global leaders to keep fossil fuels in the ground and move decisively towards renewables and increased energy efficiency. False ‘solutions’ like market-based schemes and carbon pricing will only keep us using and abusing fossil fuels when what we need is a clean energy revolution.”

Amanda Starbuck, program director of Rainforest Action Network, said,

“The Paris agreement acknowledges the urgent need to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius. However, it lacks the clear roadmap the world desperately needs to get us there. Avoiding the worst impacts of climate change is a moral imperative that will require transformational change. We call on President Obama to keep fossil fuels in the ground. Moreover and provide the regions of the world most impacted by climate change with finance and technology. That’s to support a just transition to clean energy.”

Karen Orenstein, senior international policy analyst at Friends of the Earth U.S., said, “The pitiful outcome on climate finance must not be lost. Especially amidst the euphoria surrounding the signing of the Paris Agreement. Developed countries fell painfully short of their moral and legal obligation to provide money for developing countries to take climate action, in line with what science and justice demand. With the Paris Agreement, the world’s poorest and most vulnerable got the short end of the stick, which is no cause for celebration.”

Brandon Wu, senior policy analyst at ActionAid USA

“We must be under no illusion that the job is anywhere near complete. Especially with the signing of the Paris Agreement. The emissions cuts that all countries committed to in Paris last December, and the money that rich countries have pledged, fall far short of what’s needed to protect the lives of the world’s poorest people who are already feeling the impacts of the changing climate. As the world’s leading historical polluter and the world’s wealthiest nation, the Obama administration and the U.S. must also make good on the promises we made in Paris, but we also have to do much more than we’ve currently committed to do.”