Carper Statement on Multilateral Agreement to Implement Paris Climate Accord

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.), top Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW), released the following statement regarding the agreement reached at the 24^th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP24):

“For the past two weeks, leaders from nearly 200 countries have been working to reach agreement on how the world will actually implement the Paris Climate Agreement. It is a positive step forward that the international community could come together and agree to meaningful action to combat climate change on a global scale by finally putting the Paris Agreement into practice. 

“However, this agreement is not perfect. Unfortunately, it falls well short of the steps that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) determined, just months ago, are needed to avoid the most catastrophic effects of climate change over the next decade. The entire world must be doing even more and setting even more aggressive targets going forward to address the challenges of climate change. While we certainly can and should be doing more, today’s agreement gives me hope that bolder future agreements are possible. 

“As the rest of the world sets off to meet their Paris climate targets, the Trump Administration has decided to forego the economic opportunities of a clean energy future and instead tie our economy to the dirty fossil fuels of the past. The path this administration is taking our country down is bad for our economy and disastrous for our climate. But we don’t have time to wait for President Trump and other climate deniers to come to their senses. We must continue to push forward and work in Congress to make the changes that we know are needed to protect our planet.”

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