BETA
This is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by clicking here

More From Forbes

Edit Story

In Congress, A Bold New Path Forward On Climate

Following
This article is more than 4 years old.

Written by Fred Krupp, president of Environmental Defense Fund.

We have an obligation to slash climate pollution to zero. It would be a moral failure to do anything less than propose truly bold solutions and build the widest possible base of support for them.

That is why I am encouraged by the growing momentum for the 100% Clean Economy Act in the U.S. House of Representatives—an audacious climate plan that has already attracted 150 co-sponsors. This objective has the potential to draw support from across the ideological spectrum.

We know the threat: This human-caused crisis is making storms more destructive and diseases more deadly. Rising sea levels and record heat waves are putting our communities under siege and our supply chains at risk. Our economy is already being hurt, and Citibank estimates the costs will rise into the trillions if we don’t act.

This bill provides a road map for action. Its ambition is obvious. The 100% Clean Economy Act will put our country on a path to net-zero climate pollution by 2050, a timeline that reflects the urgency called for by the world’s top scientists.

Achieving this ambitious target means the U.S. will not produce any more climate pollution than we can successfully remove from the atmosphere. That will require transforming the way we generate energy, manufacture products, transport goods, and grow our food to ensure we limit and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We need to rapidly drive down climate pollution across the entire economy, and across the entire country.

While 100% Clean is a bold idea, this concept also has the potential to build a large coalition for action. The net goal will dramatically boost clean energy, and allow for a mix of energy sources provided the math adds up to zero pollution. It can attract support from left, right, and center. Already the bill has been co-sponsored by business-oriented New Democrats, Progressive Caucus members, Labor allies, and members of the Congressional Black Caucus and Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

The net-zero pollution approach also provides flexibility to achieve reductions in climate pollution where it is most cost-effective to do so. That means each dollar buys more environmental protection, so we can move faster and target the most efficient ways to cut emissions.

This approach also recognizes what the National Academy of Sciences has concluded: removing climate pollution from the atmosphere is necessary to achieve our climate goals. First priority must always remain drastically reducing climate pollution as rapidly as possible. But we also need rigorous scientific review and research, development and deployment of carbon removal strategies that deliver real climate benefit when they are cost effective.

The 100% Clean Economy Act is a vehicle to rally support for bold action on climate change. By setting our sights on an emissions-reduction objective, we are focusing on the metric that matters for the climate and building a strong coalition of leaders from different backgrounds and industries who are committed to progress. It will also be critical to solidify interim goals while we work towards meeting the 2050 target — which is why the bill directs EPA to make a recommendation to Congress on what those goals should be.

This bill also makes sure that while we transition to a 100% clean future, we address the needs of both workers affected by the transition and frontline communities who bear a disproportionate burden from pollution.

We have delayed climate action for far too long, but there is still time to win this fight. The 100% Clean Economy Act is a new map for a road we can all travel together—one that leads us back toward a safe and stable climate. Let’s get going.

Follow me on Twitter or LinkedInCheck out my website