TIMES RECORD • December 4, 2020
The 2015 Paris Climate Accord set a target of limiting long term global warming to 1.5-2 degrees Celsius. It has become clear that a human-caused climate crisis is here. Even limiting warming to the 2-degree “upper limit” is increasingly unlikely. This is the dire setting in which climate-denying President Trump pulled out of the Paris Accord and used executive authority to encourage greater production and consumption of fossil fuels. Joe Biden has laid out an ambitious strategy for investing in climate-friendly infrastructures and renewable energy, promising to stimulate economic growth and create millions of “green jobs.” But rejoining the Paris Accord is easy. Re-establishing America’s credibility will be a far greater challenge. The 2020 election results so far do not bode well for ambitious climate legislation. That makes Georgia’s two Senate runoff elections in January critically important – for climate strategy and the entire Biden policy agenda. ~ David Vail, Citizens’ Climate Lobby