Last night, the U.S. Senate blocked legislation that a would have taken the U.S. and the world backward on fighting the imminent threat of climate disruption.
Senators and notorious climate deniers Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) offered a dangerous amendment that would have blocked the Obama administration from making any joint agreements with other countries on climate change, taking aim at a landmark pledge to reduce carbon emissions made with China last November.
The US-China announcement was a major breakthrough contribution to the global effort to fight climate disruption. China and the United States are the top two countries responsible for annual carbon emissions. In order to reach the United States’ pledge for 2025 that keeps the country on track to cut its carbon pollution by 80 percent by 2050, the President has already set in motion actions for key sectors of the U.S. economy. The underlying initiatives are all around good news for the country based on their pollution reduction, public health benefits, consumer savings, and increase in job creation.
While the U.S.’s announcement builds on the emissions reductions from pre-existing initiatives, China’s announcement was the first of its kind. China has never before committed to capping its overall emissions. President Xi committed that China’s emissions will peak no later than 2030 -- and likely earlier. China also committed to a new goal of producing 20 percent of its power from clean energy by 2030. This a huge step forward that signals a historic shift away from dirty fossil fuels, and could drive a new global competition for clean energy technology.
But this destructive amendment would wipe that significant pledge away.
This amendment would also undermine the Administration’s efforts to encourage other countries to take ambitious action to address the climate crisis. Next week, the President is traveling to India, where energy and climate issues will be high on the agenda. This amendment would block the U.S. from working with India, the next largest producer of annual carbon emissions, to take concerted action on carbon pollution and renewable energy. President Obama’s pledge with Chinese President Xi shows the world that the U.S. is serious about taking ambitious action on climate and using our diplomatic resources to ensure that other countries follow suit.
-- Andrew Linhardt, Sierra Club Associate Washington DC Representative