The Paris Climate Agreement, which was signed by 175 parties, brought the world together in saying that climate change is real, it is caused by human activity, and that we all have a responsibility for taking action to solve it. The agreement was not perfect, however. Even if every nation met the agreement, it would still allow 3 degrees Celsius of warming, which would destroy island nations and the people least responsible for the climate crisis. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report last year issued a dire warning to the world: we have no time left to come together as a global force and aggressively reduce our carbon pollution emissions. It also made a strong case for limiting warming at or below 1.5 degrees Celsius if we hope to continue to have a habitable planet.
As president, Bernie will provide strong, inclusive American leadership to not only transform our own energy system, but to reach out to countries all over the world and cooperate on the global crisis of climate change. We must recognize that people from every country in the world — Russia, India, China, Japan, Brazil — are all in this together. Instead of accepting that the world’s countries will spend $1.8 trillion annually on weapons of destruction, Bernie will convene global leaders to redirect our priorities to confront our shared enemy: climate change.
Together, we will lead the international community to keep global warming at or below 1.5 degrees Celsius. We will not only reduce US carbon pollution emissions by 71 percent, we will support less industrialized nations in the Global South, excluding China, to help them reduce emissions by 36 percent from 2017 levels by 2030, consistent with meeting our fair share of emissions reductions under the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s recommendations.
Lead the world in fighting climate change by investing in reducing emissions throughout the world. Bernie knows the importance of American responsibility and leadership on climate change. As President, he will take that role seriously and bring a commitment to the rest of the world on behalf of the American people to promote peace and aggressively reduce our emissions in an effort to get the international community to agree to limit global emissions to keep us at or below 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming. This will ensure the U.S. remains in a position of technological leadership and make us competitive on all sustainable energy technology to achieve our global goal of decarbonization by 2050.
Invest in the Green Climate Fund. Despite the major shortcomings of the Paris Climate Agreement, one primary reason why the globe was able to come together to sign the Paris Climate Agreement was that major developed nations like the United States finally recognized that they had an outsized role in the creation of the climate crisis, and an outsized obligation to less industrialized nations to help them achieve the same kind of carbon pollution emissions reductions while improving the quality of life in those countries. In order to help countries of the Global South with climate adaptation efforts, the U.S. will invest $200 billion in the Green Climate Fund for the equitable transfer of renewable technologies, climate adaptation, and assistance in adopting sustainable energies. U.S. leadership can ensure that the developing world secures reliable electricity, reduces poverty and pollution-related fatalities, creates greater net employment, and improves living standards — all while reducing greenhouse-gas emissions.
Bring together the leaders of the major industrialized nations with the goal of using the trillions of dollars our nations spend on misguided wars and weapons of mass destruction to instead work together internationally to combat our climate crisis and take on the fossil fuel industry. Bernie recognizes that the Pentagon is the largest institutional emitter of greenhouse gases in the world and that the United States spends $81 billion annually to protect oil supplies and transport routes. We are uniquely positioned to lead the planet in a wholesale shift away from militarism.
Rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement and enforce aggressive climate reduction goals. What President Trump did by withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement is an international disgrace. While the Paris Agreement was an important milestone toward solving climate change, even optimistic outcomes from this agreement will not put the world on the path needed to avoid the most catastrophic results of climate change. We must think beyond Paris. The United States must lead the way in achieving binding and enforceable multilateral goals to avoid the most catastrophic results of climate change. We must ensure genuine international cooperation in line with the IPCC’s findings.
Renegotiate disastrous trade deals to protect the environment. Not only have agreements like NAFTA and Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China outsourced millions of American jobs, they have allowed corporations to outsource their pollution. Trade deals have been written in secret by billion-dollar companies to give polluters special handouts and protections, as well as the right to sue governments that pursue stronger environmental protections. Under a Sanders Administration, this will end. Trade deals will be renegotiated to ensure strong and binding climate standards, labor rights, and human rights with swift enforcement.
End overseas fossil fuel financing. The federal government currently supports investments in fossil fuels through the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, OPIC, the Export-Import Bank, and other multilateral institutions. These international investments are inconsistent with a goal to curb the global climate crisis and must end. A Sanders Administration will lead these international financial institutions in advancing the equitable adoption of sustainable energy across the planet.
Source: Sanders
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