Today, U.S. President Obama thanks nations across the world for working to bring the Paris Agreement into force.
Here the remarks from the White House:
- In June of 2015, the President announced the Clean Power Plan, which proposed the first-ever nationwide standards to limit the amount of carbon pollution that power plants can dump into the air.
- We then led by example with historic investments in growing industries like wind and solar, creating a steady stream of new jobs.
- In 2009, we salvaged a chaotic climate summit in Copenhagen to esablish a foundational principle that all nations have a role to play in combating climate change.
- Ten months ago, nations from across the globe gathered in Paris to announce an historic agreement to combat climate change. The Paris Agreement established a strong global consensus to reduce carbon pollution and set the world on a low-carbon course. For the agreement to go into effect, 55 countries representing 55 percent of global emissions had to formally join.
- In September, the U.S. and China, countries that represent 40 percent of emissions, officially joined. And today, the world crossed the threshold needed to bring the Paris Agreement into force. This historic moment did not happen overnight. Take a look back at significant moments on the path we took to get here:
- We also set new transportation standards that changed the way we consume energy—and empowered consumers to leave a smaller footprint.
Learn more about the President’s efforts to combat climate change here: www.whitehouse.gov/climate