Statement: Senate steps up on climate with bill to stay in Paris Climate Accord

Environment America

U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and Tom Carper (D-DE) today introduced the ”International Climate Accountability Act” (S.1743). A companion bill to the House’s Climate Action Now Act passed by a bipartisan majority last month, this legislation aims to keep the United States on track to stay in the Paris Climate Accord, which President Donald Trump has vowed to exit.

The legislation would ensure that the United States meets its international commitment to cut carbon emissions by at least 26 to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025. It also calls for a strategic plan from the Trump administration to meet the goals and defunds any effort to quit the agreement.

Andrea McGimsey, the senior director of Environment America’s Global Warming Solutions Campaign, issued the following statement:

“With the level of carbon dioxide at levels higher than ever experienced in human history, Congress is past due when it comes to decisive and urgent action to cut planet-warming pollution. Still, this is a critical and welcome step forward in the Senate. We now call on Leader McConnell to bring this bill to a vote, and we implore every senator and all Americans to read this short, straightforward bill and to strongly support it.

“Climate scientists continue to sound the alarm on the spiraling dangers of climate change. Just two weeks ago, a report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences warned that sea levels could rise by more than six feet by 2100, swamping our coastal cities, ecosystems and farmland. Already, we are seeing record-breaking extreme weather that has caused extreme hardship across the middle of our country.

“We have no more time to waste. The legislative mechanisms are in place to make important change, but the Senate must lead on climate right now.”