ICYMI: Biden-⁠Harris Administration Leaders Underscore Importance of Global Action to Combat Climate Change on Heels of New IPCC Report

This week, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a new report that emphasized the need for immediate action by the global community to help address the climate crisis. President Biden, Vice President Harris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Special Presidential Envoy John Kerry, National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy, Presidential Science Advisor and White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Dr. Eric Lander, and other Biden-Harris Administration leaders noted the report and underscored the need for action.

Additionally, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Deputy Director for Climate and Environment Dr. Jane Lubchenco and National Climate Assessment Director Allison Crimmins discussed the Biden-Harris Administration’s historic commitments to tackling climate change, growing the economy and good-paying, union jobs, and encouraging swift, global cooperation.

Urgent need for global collaboration:

New York Times: “The report leaves me with a deep sense of urgency…Now is the critical decade for keeping the 1.5 target within reach.”

Wall Street Journal: “This report tells us that we probably need even more action by all the major economies to work together to avoid even worse impacts than we’re already seeing now.”

Axios: “The actions we take over the coming years are what will determine if we can get on the right path…So every action matters, every year matters, every fraction of a degree matters.”

CNN: “Every bit of warming matters, and every bit of avoided warming matters…We have to enhance ambition and tackle the climate crisis like the existential threat that it is.”

Washington Post: “All we need to do is look at the extreme events that are happening now and see how devastating those are, and then to comprehend that it’s going to get worse if we don’t get our act together.”

Science: “‘This is a critical decade for keeping the 1.5°C target within reach.’ And the projections mean countries should come to the United Nations Climate Change Conference, scheduled for November, with the most ‘aggressive, ambitious’ targets possible.”

Following the science:

NPR’s Morning Edition: “It’s not a policy statement but just a scientific statement that if we want to limit global warming and we want to limit those sorts of impacts that are affecting Americans right now, we need strong, rapid, sustained reductions in carbon dioxide and in methane and in other greenhouse gasses.”

CNN International: “The report is absolutely a scientific report – and that’s the strength of it. The science of this report [is] not policy… Even when we’re talking about [emissions] that’s not policy. That’s just science – it’s just physics.”

Biden-Harris Administration’s leadership on climate:

NPR’s Morning Edition: “The target that the Biden-Harris administration articulated earlier this year is the most ambitious ever in U.S. history.”

NPR’s All Things Considered: “The Biden administration has proposed the most aggressive, forward-looking changes to achieve [emissions goals]. And we are marching along, implementing those in some very forward-looking, smart new ways. I can tell you that every agency is involved, and there’s a laser focus on getting the job done in ways that create jobs and bring benefits to people around the planet as well as the U.S.”

E&E: “The Biden-Harris administration is already proposing very aggressive action…We need partners in Congress and industry and in the states to help deliver on some of those.”