A new report, released by the UN on Monday, concludes that humans are responsible for the climate crisis. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) urges countries around the world to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The Biden administration and lawmakers have swiftly responded to the report and ask Senators to heed the warning and make the necessary changes.
Global warming is currently at 1.1 degrees and the nation, and the world have already been affected rather drastic changes. This summer, there were extreme heat conditions as well as severe drought in many states especially in the Pacific Southwest region in the nation.
Democrats are quoting the UN report and asking lawmakers in Congress to study the science. They are urging lawmakers to pass the $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill. The bill has provisions such as tax credits for renewable energy as well as a Clean Electricity Standard. It would also offer transportation tax incentives and more.
The bill also has provisions for a Civilian Climate Corps, new fees for polluters like methane and carbon imports. It will also offer rebates for home electrification and weatherization and more.
President Biden had set goals such as decreasing greenhouse gas emissions by 50 to 52 percent by 2030 so they could reach the 2005 level. He is also aiming to decarbonize the electricity sector in the nation by 2035. Another long-term goal put forth by the Biden administration is to be a zero-net emission nation by 2050.
All these admirable goals by the President and his team will succeed only when bills that advocate the use of clean and green energy are passed with bipartisan support and polluters are penalized. The U.S. has already started feeling the effects of climate change. If steps to combat global warming are not taken soon, the nation as well as the planet and all its inhabitants will be the ultimate sufferers.
The Biden administration has announced $5 billion funding on Monday to help states and localities prepare as they face “extreme weather and climate related disasters.”
In a statement Biden’s international climate official John Kerry said that “aggressive” action needed to be taken in the next ten years while Anthony Blinken, Secretary of State said that all players including world leaders, the private sector and individuals needed “to act together.” Everything necessarily had to be done to protect planet earth “in this decade and beyond.”
