Climate Action 2017-2018

POLICY
AMERICA PLEDGES
TO FIGHT CLIMATE
CHANGE, WITH
OR WITHOUT
WASHINGTON
Michael Bloomberg, UN Special
Envoy for Cities and Climate Change
and Co-Chair of America’s Pledge
The United States has recently faced
some of the most devastating
hurricanes in our history, as well
as one of the worst wildfire seasons in
decades. Yet these are far from isolated
incidents. Record floods recently killed
more than a thousand people in India,
Nepal, and Bangladesh. Hundreds were
killed after torrential rains triggered a
mudslide in Sierra Leone. While it is
impossible to attribute any particular
weather event to climate change, the
science is clear: warming air and oceans
are supercharging weather events around
the globe.
The Paris Climate Agreement was
a breakthrough in global relations,
and while President Trump has since
announced that the US will pull out of the
agreement in November 2020, the truth
of the matter is that, when it comes to
climate action in America, Washington
will not have the last word. In fact, I am
confident that the US will meet its Paris
commitment – even without leadership
from Congress or the President.
There is good reason to be optimistic
that we will: over the past decade,
the US has led the world in reducing
greenhouse gas emissions – and
Washington had almost nothing
to do with it. Congress passed no
law to reduce emissions, and even
before President Trump was elected,
federal courts had placed on hold
President Obama’s effort to place
stricter emission controls on the
power industry. America’s progress
has been driven almost entirely by
mayors and governors, who adopted
All around the world, cities, regions,
businesses, and citizens are taking a
leading role in fighting climate change.
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