"For all the immediate challenges that we gather to address this week
-- terrorism, instability, inequality, disease -- there’s one issue
that will define the contours of this century more dramatically than any
other, and that is the urgent and growing threat of a changing
climate."
Those were President Obama's words at today's U.N. Climate Summit -- a
meeting of world leaders that showcased climate action commitments from
governments, local leaders, and the private sector. In his remarks,
the President detailed the ambitious clean energy investments and
carbon emission reductions the U.S. has made, but made clear that all of
the world's major economies also need to step up in order to protect
our planet.
Noting that "no nation is immune" to climate change, the President explained the effects of climate change on the United States:
In America, the past decade has been our
hottest on record. Along our eastern coast, the city of Miami now
floods at high tide. In our west, wildfire season now stretches most of
the year. In our heartland, farms have been parched by the worst
drought in generations, and drenched by the wettest spring in our
history. A hurricane left parts of [New York City] dark and
underwater. And some nations already live with far worse. Worldwide,
this summer was the hottest ever recorded -- with global carbon
emissions still on the rise.
This past Sunday, nearly 400,000 people marched in New
York to show support for action on climate change, and similar events
were held on the same day in more than 160 countries worldwide.
President Obama noted that as "our citizens keep marching ... we cannot
pretend we do not hear them."
We have to answer the call. We know what we
have to do to avoid irreparable harm. We have to cut carbon pollution
in our own countries to prevent the worst effects of climate change. We
have to adapt to the impacts that, unfortunately, we can no longer
avoid. And we have to work together as a global community to tackle
this global threat before it is too late.
"We cannot condemn our children, and their children, to a future that is beyond their capacity to repair."

Reiterating that there are actions we can take to address the effects
of climate change, President Obama discussed some of the investments
and emissions reductions that the U.S. has made so far:
We now harness three times as much electricity
from the wind and 10 times as much from the sun as we did when I came
into office. Within a decade, our cars will go twice as far on a gallon
of gas, and already, every major automaker offers electric vehicles.
We’ve made unprecedented investments to cut energy waste in our homes
and our buildings and our appliances, all of which will save consumers
billions of dollars. And we are committed to helping communities build
climate-resilient infrastructure.
So, all told, these advances have helped create jobs, grow
our economy, and drive our carbon pollution to its lowest levels in
nearly two decades -- proving that there does not have to be a conflict
between a sound environment and strong economic growth.
Over the past eight years, the United States has reduced
our total carbon pollution by more than any other nation on Earth. But
we have to do more. Last year, I issued America’s first Climate Action
Plan to double down on our efforts. Under that plan, my administration
is working with states and utilities to set first-ever standards to cut
the amount of carbon pollution our power plants can dump into the air.
And when completed, this will mark the single most important and
significant step the United States has ever taken to reduce our carbon
emissions.
Last week alone, we announced an array of new actions in
renewable energy and energy efficiency that will save consumers more
than $10 billion on their energy bills and cut carbon pollution by
nearly 300 million metric tons through 2030. That's the equivalent of
taking more than 60 million cars off the road for one year.
I also convened a group of private sector leaders who’ve
agreed to do their part to slash consumption of dangerous greenhouse
gases known as HFCs -- slash them 80 percent by 2050.
President Barack Obama delivers remarks at the United Nations
General Assembly Climate Summit 2014 in the General Assembly Hall at the
United Nations in New York, N.Y., Sept. 23, 2014.
(Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
The President called on all countries to join in the fight against
climate change, noting that "no nation can meet this global threat
alone." He also outlined some of the ways that the U.S. has engaged
allies and partners to cut carbon pollution and prepare for the
unavoidable impacts of climate change:
All told, American climate assistance now
reaches more than 120 nations around the world. We’re helping more
nations skip past the dirty phase of development, using current
technologies, not duplicating the same mistakes and environmental
degradation that took place previously.
We’re partnering with African entrepreneurs to launch
clean energy projects. We’re helping farmers practice climate-smart
agriculture and plant more durable crops. We’re building international
coalitions to drive action, from reducing methane emissions from
pipelines to launching a free trade agreement for environmental goods.
And we have been working shoulder-to-shoulder with many of you to make
the Green Climate Fund a reality.
"Yes, this is hard. But there should be no question that the United States of America is stepping up to the plate."
President Obama is also directing U.S. federal agencies to factor
climate resilience into our international development programs and
investments, and today announced "a new effort to deploy the unique
scientific and technological capabilities of the United States, from
climate data to early-warning systems."
We recognize our role in creating this
problem; we embrace our responsibility to combat it. We will do our
part, and we will help developing nations do theirs. But we can only
succeed in combating climate change if we are joined in this effort by
every nation –- developed and developing alike. Nobody gets a pass.
The emerging economies that have experienced some of the
most dynamic growth in recent years have also emitted rising levels of
carbon pollution. It is those emerging economies that are likely to
produce more and more carbon emissions in the years to come. So nobody
can stand on the sidelines on this issues. We have to set aside the old
divides. We have to raise our collective ambition, each of us doing
what we can to confront this global challenge.
Quoting Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., President Obama said
that he believes "there is such a thing as being too late" -- and
reiterated the need for us to "move toward a global compact to confront a
changing climate" while we are still able to do so:
This challenge demands our ambition. Our
children deserve such ambition. And if we act now, if we can look
beyond the swarm of current events and some of the economic challenges
and political challenges involved, if we place the air that our children
will breathe and the food that they will eat and the hopes and dreams
of all posterity above our own short-term interests, we may not be too
late for them.
While you and I may not live to see all the fruits of our
labor, we can act to see that the century ahead is marked not by
conflict, but by cooperation; not by human suffering, but by human
progress; and that the world we leave to our children, and our
children’s children, will be cleaner and healthier, and more prosperous
and secure.
President Barack Obama delivers remarks at the United Nations
General Assembly Climate Summit 2014 in the General Assembly Hall at the
United Nations in New York, N.Y., Sept. 23, 2014.
(Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)