Statement by Ceres President Mindy Lubber on the National Climate Assessment
Tackling Climate Change is the Greatest Economic Opportunity of the 21st Century
BOSTON, MA, May 6, 2014 /3BL Media/ – Today, as the White House released the Third National Climate Assessment, a comprehensive peer-reviewed analysis documenting the escalating impacts of climate change across all regions and economic sectors in the United States, Mindy Lubber, Ceres President, released the following statement:
“Today's report is a stark reminder of the urgency for expanding our efforts to curb the carbon pollution that is impacting every stretch of the United States, from extreme precipitation and flooding in the northeast, to drought, water scarcity and wildfires in the southwest. We simply can no longer afford to risk our children’s futures on the false hope that the vast majority of scientists are wrong.
The United States must dramatically scale up its investments in clean energy and energy efficiency over the coming decades to cut carbon pollution and combat the worst effects of climate change. Globally, we need to reach a Clean Trillion in annual clean energy investing over the next 36 years. The longer we wait, the more the costs—economic, human and environmental—will balloon.
Yet combatting climate change offers one of the greatest economic opportunities of the twenty-first century—spurring innovation, creating jobs, and strengthening corporate bottom lines—all while cutting consumers’ energy bills and improving public health. Close to 800 companies agree with this opportunity and are signatories to the Climate Declaration.
Ceres applauds the Obama Administration’s previous actions to cut carbon pollution, by setting standards for cleaner and more efficient cars, and supports its plan to issue the first-ever nationwide limits on carbon pollution from existing power plants within the next month. Smart, practical policies like these create incentives and provide the certainty that investors need to scale up their clean energy investments to meet the enormity of the challenge."
About Ceres
Ceres is an advocate for sustainability leadership. Ceres mobilizes a powerful coalition of investors, companies and public interest groups to accelerate and expand the adoption of sustainable business practices and solutions to build a healthy global economy. Ceres directs the Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR), a network of over 100 institutional investors with collective assets totaling more than $12 trillion. Ceres also directs Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy (BICEP), an advocacy coalition of nearly 30 businesses committed to working with policy makers to pass meaningful energy and climate legislation. For more information, visit www.ceres.org or follow on Twitter @CeresNews.
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