April 22, 2016

Udall Welcomes Signing of Historic International Agreement to Fight Climate Change

WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senator Tom Udall, a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations and Appropriations committees, released the following statement on the signing of a historic agreement reached by the United States and almost 200 other countries to fight climbing temperatures and rising sea levels by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Udall was among a group of 10 senators who attended the United Nations climate talks in Paris last December, where international negotiators reached the deal. Ahead of today's signing, he joined a coalition of 147 senators and members of the U.S. House of Representatives in a letter to President Obama strongly supporting the global effort to fight climate change.

"On the first Earth Day 46 years ago, we inaugurated a movement to protect our environment and our health for that generation and those to come. Since then, we have made tremendous progress through laws to promote clean air and water, but climate change has only accelerated. New Mexico and the Southwest are at global warming's bull's-eye - we're seeing increasingly severe wildfires, drought and rising temperatures. But the effects are being felt worldwide. The last two years have been the planet's warmest on record - and this year already is on track to surpass them. This is a global crisis that requires global action, and the urgency cannot be more real. While we must do more, today's international agreement is a historic, collaborative step forward."

Udall has long fought for a national plan to invest in clean and renewable energy. The Senate this week voted on his Clean Energy Victory Bonds proposal to spur investment in the growing clean energy economy and create jobs, but it faced Republican opposition and failed to reach the 60 votes needed for passage. In conjunction with the Paris Agreement, Udall has been a strong supporter of the Administration's Mission Innovation, which will raise revenue for clean energy technology from the private sector. His Clean Energy Victory Bonds complement that initiative and could raise up to $50 billion from public citizens, which then could be leveraged to inject $150 billion into clean energy innovation and create over 1 million jobs.

Udall also has long championed a national renewable electricity standard (RES), which he passed in the U.S. House of Representatives. He has introduced a similar RES every Congress since he was elected to the U.S. Senate. His latest RES proposal calls for the United States to generate 30 percent of its electricity from renewables by 2030. Doing so would create hundreds of thousands of jobs and save consumers $25 billion in cumulative electricity and gas bills over 15 years.