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Summary:
President Obama and world leaders just secured the most ambitious global climate agreement in history. Get the latest.
President Obama Announces Climate Agreement
Today, nations of the world have come together to announce a historic achievement: the most ambitious global agreement to combat climate change.
The Paris Agreement establishes a long term, durable global framework to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. For the first time, all countries commit to putting forward successive and ambitious, nationally determined climate targets and reporting on their progress towards them using a rigorous, standardized process of review.
Learn everything you need to know about how the agreement will work here.
Watch the President's Speech on Climate Change:
The Latest:
Watch President Obama lay out what a successful global climate agreement in Paris looks like:
Watch @POTUS lay out what a successful global climate agreement looks like at #COP21 in Paris. #ActOnClimate https://t.co/BUhyI7reKb
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) December 1, 2015
Mission Innovation:
Addressing climate change takes all of us, especially the private sector going all-in on clean energy worldwide. https://t.co/qQ6wCZUR1Z
— President Obama (@POTUS) November 30, 2015
This week, President Obama joined 19 other world leaders in launching Mission Innovation -- an initiative to dramatically accelerate public and private global clean energy innovation to address global climate change, provide affordable clean energy to consumers, including in the developing world, and create additional commercial opportunities in clean energy. To complement this effort, Bill Gates is spearheading the Breakthrough Energy Coaltion, a private sector-led effort that has pledged to invest extraordinary levels of private capital in clean energy, focusing on early-stage innovations.
Learn everything you need to know about these global efforts here.
Every day, we are seeing and feeling the effects of climate change -- here and across the globe. It poses a clear and present threat to our economic and national security. No country is immune from the consequences of climate change, and no country can act alone. Right now, we, as people, face a critical moment.
For the first time in history, we have a chance to put in place a global climate agreement that will spur countries to take ambitious action that will reduce carbon pollution, support clean energy, and ensure we deliver a planet that is worthy of future generations. That is why President Obama is heading to Paris on November 29. He will meet with leaders of countries large and small -- the world's largest emitters and the ones that are most at risk -- to find a way we can collectively reduce global emissions.
Watch what the President had to say about it on his Facebook page:
Hello, Facebook! I finally got my very own page. I hope you’ll think of this as a place where we can have real conversations about the most important issues facing our country – a place where you can hear directly from me, and share your own thoughts and stories. (You can expect some just-for-fun stuff, too.)I’m kicking it off by inviting you to take a walk with me in my backyard – something I try to do at the end of the day before I head in for dinner. I say this often, but that’s because it’s always at the front of my mind: We’ve got to preserve this beautiful planet of ours for our kids and grandkids. And that means taking serious steps to address climate change once and for all. Now, we've made a lot of progress to cut carbon pollution here at home, and we're leading the world to take action as well. But we’ve got to do more. In a few weeks, I’m heading to Paris to meet with world leaders about a global agreement to meet this challenge.I hope you'll join me in speaking out on climate change and educating your friends about why this issue is so important. At a time when nearly three in four adults online use Facebook, this feels like a great place to do it. Share your thoughts in the comments, and pass this message on to folks you think need to see it.If we're all in this together, I'm confident we can solve this and do right by future generations.
Posted by President Obama on Monday, November 9, 2015
Under President Obama, we've already taken the lead on the world stage. The President's Clean Power Plan will cut emissions from the U.S. power sector -- which makes up a third of U.S. emissions -- by more than 30 percent by 2030 and save more than $50 billion in climate and health-related costs in the process. It's the largest step the United States has ever taken to combat climate change.
And under his leadership, other countries are following suit. China, Brazil, and more than 180 countries representing nearly 95% of global emissions have announced climate targets, or Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs).
In Paris, he will work with world leaders to secure an agreement that:
- Reflects ambitious climate targets from all countries;
- Puts in place a long-term framework that incentivizes countries to ratchet down their emissions over time in a transparent way with a view to achieving a low-carbon transformation by the end of the century;
- Provides financial and technical support to the poorest and most vulnerable countries.
In Paris, the President will meet with President Xi of China, Prime Minister Modi of India, and leaders of island nations including the Seychelles, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, St. Lucia, and Barbados, to discuss the existential challenge these countries face from rising sea levels.
No agreement can serve as the "silver bullet" to solve climate change. However, this agreement could help ensure that American action is met with global action to reduce the impact of climate change and preserve a planet that is worthy of our children. So check back here to get the latest from Paris, follow @FactsOnClimate, and learn what more you can do to help ensure the world joins the U.S. to #ActOnClimate.
