World Leaders Should Take Action Now Against Climate Change

WASHINGTON (November 23, 2013) – Countries around the world have wrapped up a two-week United Nations conference on climate change in Warsaw intended to set the framework for a new global pact to slow dangerous climate change in Paris in 2015.

The following is a statement from Jake Schmidt, International Climate Policy Director at the Natural Resources Defense Council, who attended the Warsaw conference:

“World leaders better get their act together quickly. If they show up empty-handed in 2015 and don’t secure a strong international agreement, they’ll be known as the generation that clearly saw the growing threat of global climate change, and failed to try to stop it.

“Moreover, world leaders shouldn’t wait until Paris; they should, individually and together, start taking action now to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that are driving climate change. Then, when they meet next year in September, they must demonstrate they are prepared to make further commitments to reduce emissions and mobilize finance to support action in developing countries.

“They must do so because climate change is the greatest environmental ill of our time. The world community is obligated to act to protect our children and future generations from its ravages.”



For more details, read Jake Schmidt’s blog at: http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/jschmidt/warsaw_to_world_leaders_you_ha