DNC Council on Environment and Climate Crisis Responds to UN Climate Report

Statement by Michelle Deatrick, Chair of the DNC Council on the Environment and Climate Crisis:

“The climate crisis is not coming, it is here. And as the UN’s critical report states, the time to act is now. The crisis is accelerating. We literally have no time left.

“President Biden and Congressional Democrats took historic action last year and passed the largest climate bill in this nation’s history. It was important and vital legislation.

“But this report makes clear there is much more work to be done. This is an emergency situation and we must treat it as such. We should declare a climate emergency and dedicate ourselves to using the full set of available tools — executive, legislative and regulatory —  to get back on track to meet our climate goals.

“Let’s be clear, this is more than an environmental issue. It is an economic issue. It is a national security issue. It is a health and safety issue. It is an equity issue. And we know what to do to address it. As the report notes, limiting warming to 1.5 or even 2 degrees Celsius requires deep, rapid and mostly immediate cuts to carbon pollution. We must engage in a managed, urgent transition off fossil fuels onto proven, safe renewable energy.

“The climate crisis does not care if you are a Democrat or Republican. It does not care if you live in a red state or blue state. It impacts all of us, everywhere.

“We must meet this moment. The fate of our planet depends on it.”