Chair Castor Statement On New IPCC Report
WASHINGTON – On Monday, Chair Kathy Castor of the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis released the following statement in response to a new report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC):
“Today’s IPCC report shows the urgent need to invest in climate resilience and adaptation to prepare our communities for the costly impacts of the climate crisis,” said Chair Castor. “After experiencing $145 billion in damages from weather and climate disasters just last year, American families simply cannot afford to wait for action. In Congress, we must help communities prepare for the climate impacts that we can no longer avoid. We need to transform our power and water systems, modernize housing, and strengthen our public healthcare systems, in ways that will reduce the risks and costs of climate-fueled disasters. We also must keep reducing global temperatures and pushing toward net zero as urgently as possible because every fraction of a degree counts and there is no safe amount of carbon pollution.
“We must act boldly for the low-income communities and communities of color whose lives and livelihoods are on the line. We’ve already passed important investments as part of President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. We cannot stop there. It’s time for the Senate to pass the Build Back Better Act’s investments in climate solutions, resilience measures, and clean energy. We have a generational opportunity - and a historic responsibility - to lower the costs of energy, create good-paying union jobs, free Americans from volatile gas prices, and win the global race to build the clean energy economy. The Senate must act now to protect future generations and get the Build Back Better Act across the finish line.”
Background:
- In June of 2020, the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis Democrats released the majority staff report Solving the Climate Crisis: The Congressional Action Plan for a Clean Energy Economy and a Healthy, Resilient, and Just America. This report provides a roadmap for Congress—a Climate Crisis Action Plan—to build a prosperous, clean energy economy that values workers, advances environmental justice, and is prepared to meet the challenges of the climate crisis.
- House Democrats have already passed more than 375 of the recommendations in the Climate Crisis Action Plan, and have successfully worked to turn over 200 of them into law.
###
