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Why This Matters: U.S. leadership on climate is critical to the success of global efforts. Unfortunately, the three largest emitting countries — the United States, China, and India — have sent only lower-level officials to represent their governments at the UN meeting. Despite this symbolic gesture by Pelosi and the Dems, only defeating President Trump in next year’s election can reverse the U.S. government’s course and put us back in a position to persuade the other large emitters to join us in curbing emissions. Otherwise, the Secretary-General’s warning will likely prove true. And the U.S. will be seen as a global scofflaw.
The UN Gap Report
The Gap Report was intended to create a greater sense of urgency for action at this year’s annual climate meeting. It said:
“If we rely only on the current climate commitments of the Paris Agreement, temperatures can be expected to rise to 3.2°C this century. Temperatures have already increased 1.1°C, leaving families, homes and communities devastated.”
“Our challenge: based on today’s commitments, emissions are on track to reach 56 Gt CO2e by 2030, over twice what they should be.”
“We need to close the ‘commitment’ gap between what we say we will do and what we need to do to prevent dangerous levels of climate change….Economies must shift to a decarbonization pathway now.”
The U.S. Was Called Out
Speaker Pelosi made a strong statement, saying “Congress’s commitment to action on the climate crisis is iron-clad. This is a matter of public health, of clean air, of clean water, of our children, of the survival of our economies, of the prosperity of the world, of national security, justice and equality. We now must deliver deeper cuts in emissions.”
But many argued that these words did not match the U.S. government’s actions. Lois Young, Belize’s permanent representative to the UN and chair of the Alliance of Small Island Developing States, in pointed criticism of the U.S. told the assembly, “We are outraged by the dithering and retreat of one of the most culpable polluters from the Paris agreement.”
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) issued a report saying that 2019 “concludes a decade of exceptional global heat, retreating ice and record sea levels driven by greenhouse gases from human activities.”
Why This Matters: Piling on to the UN’s Gap report from last week, the WMO’s clear-eyed diagnosis is that the planet is warming much more rapidly than previously thought, and the prognosis is that global average temps will be 3 times higher than the Paris Agreement levels if we remain on the current trajectory of warming. What a chilling forecast.
It’s the climate movie of the year, hands down. Disney’s Frozen 2 opened last weekend to record numbers at the box office in the U.S. and globally. Disney’s timing is perfect — we need a global wake up call and a call to action by a compelling voice who will inspire action. Picking up where […]