Photo by Ramón Cruz
While reading the news this summer, a headline nearly stopped my heart. "Climate change: 12 years to save the planet? Make that 18 months," the BBC wrote. When my heart rate dropped back to normal, I kept reading. Prince Charles had announced that the choices we make in the next 18 months "will decide our ability to keep climate change to survivable levels.''
At the end of that year and a half, the Paris Agreement, the world’s response to climate change, will either be strengthened by new, more ambitious commitments from the member states—or the world leaders, especially our own in the US, will have failed their most important test.
Within those 18 months, one of the single most important days was last Monday’s Climate Action Summit at the United Nations. I had the opportunity to attend the summit as an environmental policy expert, representing a coalition of groups that work to reduce emissions from the transportation sector.
I was thrilled listening to the Swedish teenage activist Greta Thunberg, who urged world leaders not to fail her generation, and to Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, who warned that small island states will not survive the climate crisis and that the flow of climate refugees will destabilize larger countries, including developed ones.
If countries only go as far as upholding their carbon reduction commitments under the Paris Agreement that were in place before the summit, we will soar past 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) of warming this century. Catastrophic storms and month-long droughts will become the new normal, and millions will be displaced from their homes. We have started to see those catastrophic storms in the last few years, as my family experienced firsthand in my native Puerto Rico during Hurricane Maria.
To keep this planet safe and habitable, it's imperative that countries rapidly and significantly ratchet up their carbon reduction commitments. UN Secretary-General António Guterres challenged countries to come with plans to achieve a 45% reduction in emissions by 2030, and carbon neutrality by 2050.
So did every country at the summit rise to meet Guterres’s challenge? No, and perhaps that will never happen. But even though many accuse events like this of being little more than a circus of speeches and empty words, I am convinced that their absence would be much worse for the planet. Multilateralism, for all its faults and shortcomings, remains the best way for countries to communicate and work toward common goals.
In fact, over 65 countries did take on the Secretary-General’s challenge and announce that they would work toward carbon neutrality by 2050. And several developed nations pledged to increase their contributions to the Green Climate Fund, which invests in low-emission, climate-resilient projects in developing countries. The initiative that I worked on, “Action towards Climate Friendly Transport,” pledged to switch several hundred thousand buses and freight vehicles to electric technologies, sending a clear market signal to manufacturers—many of whom also signed on to the pledge.
There were several discordant notes at the summit. Most noticeable was President Trump’s infantile insistence on making an appearance, despite the fact that that the US did not meaningfully participate in the event and has vowed to withdraw from the Paris Agreement. Even though the US’s absence is a setback, it will not stop those who want to act.
Cities, states, NGOs, and the rivate sector can all be valuable partners in the urgent work of reducing emissions, building green infrastructure, and financing renewable energy. The summit was full of announcements from subnational governments and private companies about their plans to engage in climate action.
And within the US, more than 3,700 organizations and local governments have declared their commitment to fulfilling the country’s obligations under the Paris Agreement. Thanks in large part to their efforts, the US has reduced emissions by 13% from 2005 levels, according to the most recent EPA data. That’s halfway toward our Paris Agreement pledge to reduce emissions 26–28% from 2005 levels by 2025.
This summit was important not only because it offered those who understand the severity of the crisis a chance to demonstrate their commitment to climate action but also because it came on the heels of the five hottest years on record, and one of the hottest months ever recorded. I hope this extreme weather is a wake-up call to those leaders who continue to sleepwalk through the biggest threat in human history.
We deserve better. The world deserves better. Let’s elect leaders who won’t jeopardize our future. Let’s make our voices heard by joining organizations like the Sierra Club. Every person, in every industry, has a role to play in creating a world where humanity can flourish. After listening to Thunberg and other world leaders, I invite you to ask yourself: What's mine?