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Critical Climate Legislation Now Before Congress
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World’s largest solar power facility, Mojave Desert, California, United States of America. Find out what actions you can take to slow climate change
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The Greenprint, a non-partisan conservation agenda created by WWF scientists and policy experts, provides the New Administration with guidance on how to meet the challenge of climate change, manage our resources sustainably, and preserve nature. Read more
In all of human history, climate change is the greatest threat our planet has faced. Stronger storms, longer droughts, more destructive wildfires, rising sea levels, and melting glaciers are already affecting many parts of the world. These early impacts are nothing compared to those our children and grandchildren will face if we fail to meet this challenge while we still can.
Fossil fuels burned over the last century are the cause of many of the impacts we’re seeing now. In the same way, carbon released from the fuels we burn today will continue to warm the Earth for decades, pushing us ever closer to a planetary tipping point that scientists warn will be devastating for both nature and humanity. Our children deserve a better legacy than this.
We must act now, while there is still time, to reduce the heat-trapping carbon emissions that cause climate change. We must act now to lay the foundations for a clean and more secure energy future. And we must act now to prepare for changes that already are inevitable.
In the United States
President Obama has made his clean energy jobs plan a top priority and Congress is currently crafting legislation to answer the President’s call to action. The legislation being drafted would help jumpstart new economic growth, reduce our dependence on foreign oil and put an all-important price on greenhouse gas pollution. It is among the most important pieces of legislation that the U.S. Congress could pass into law this year. A bill has already passed the House of Representatives and is now being taken up by the Senate, which needs to move quickly to pass similar legislation.
Before the end of the year, Congress needs to send a final bill to the president that will harness market forces to spur the development of homegrown sources of renewable energy and increase energy efficiency, while helping to avoid dangerous climate change. WWF is working closely with Congress and the Administration to develop this critical legislation and see it passed into law.
It is critically important that Congress act now. This coming December, the nations of the world will meet in Copenhagen, Denmark, to negotiate a new agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol. Climate change is a global problem, and the solution must be a global one as well. If we are to act in time to stop the worst climate change impacts from occurring, these negotiations must be successful.
WWF recommends three critical components that must be addressed in the climate legislation passed by Congress. Learn more.
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Richard Moss
Vice President and Managing Director for Climate Change“Climate change and what we do about it is going to transform the world much more rapidly than people realize. It’s my goal to get us moving to a world we will want, not one we’ll regret leaving for our children and grandchildren.”
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