[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 173 (Thursday, November 21, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6716-S6718]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 COP29

  Mr. WELCH. Madam President, world leaders and other high-ranking 
officials from nearly 200 countries have been in Baku, Azerbaijan, this 
week in pursuit of an agreement on financing of future actions 
necessary to avert a global catastrophe caused by climate

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change. The outcome of these negotiations will signal whether the 
international community is finally getting serious about reducing 
carbon emissions to halt global warming--or still capable only of 
setting inadequate, voluntary goals, which they then fail to meet.
  It is sadly ironic that the 29th Conference of the Parties, otherwise 
known as COP29, is being held in an oil-rich country that has wholly 
failed to meet its commitments under the Paris Agreement, and whose 
head of state, President Ilham Aliyev, has profited from his county's 
oil wealth. Aliyev has abused his authority, enriching himself and 
crushing any opposition to his authoritarian rule. In fact, Aliyev 
opened COP29 by praising fossil fuels as a ``gift from God'' and, in 
the run-up to the conference, penned several natural gas deals, 
boosting the fossil fuel industry in his country.
  It is also distressing that rather than invest in clean energy, 
President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to do everything he can to 
increase the production of fossil fuels here in the United States and 
has threatened to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement. The 
result for the American people would be dirtier air, dirtier water, 
more disastrous oil and chemical spills, and more hurricanes, floods, 
droughts, fires, earthquakes, and other extreme weather events that 
have devastated communities across this country.
  This year, another 40 billion tons of heat-trapping carbon will be 
spewed into the Earth's atmosphere. That is nearly double the emissions 
compared to just 25 years ago, despite the repeated warnings of the 
world's scientists of the harmful impacts on human health and the 
environment.
  Madam President, 2024 is expected to be the first full year when we 
have breached the 1.5-degree Celsius target set in Paris, with 
temperatures reaching life-threating levels for hundreds of millions of 
people. Wildfires are more frequent and intense than ever before. Water 
has become so scarce in some countries plagued by prolonged drought 
that it is more valuable than oil. Deforestation, another driver of 
global warming, is causing the extinction of an estimated 137 species 
of plants, animals, and insects every day. That is 50,000 species lost 
forever each year.
  Economically, the story is no better. A recent working paper of the 
National Bureau of Economic Research estimates that for every 
additional degree of global warming, we can expect a 12 percent drop in 
global GDP. That translates to increasing costs for food, housing, 
clothing, transportation, and other basic needs.
  To illustrate the global scope of climate change, both Vermont and 
Vietnam, on opposite sides of the planet, experienced catastrophic 
flooding this year. But they were not alone. This year has brought 
unprecedented flooding from torrential rainfall, hurricanes, and 
typhoons causing death and destruction on a massive scale in the United 
States, Central Asia, East Africa, West Africa, Southeast Asia, and 
Central Europe.
  Despite this ominous trend, the response of the Republican-led House 
of Representatives was to prohibit a U.S. contribution to the Green 
Climate Fund in fiscal year 2025. The House included zero funding for 
the UN Environment Program, zero funding for USAID's clean energy 
programs, zero funding for USAID's climate adaptation programs, and 
they cut funding for USAID's programs to protect forests and wildlife.
  President-elect Trump's designated czar for so-called government 
efficiency has proposed to cut the Federal budget by $2 trillion. The 
consequences of cuts for programs to combat global warming worldwide, 
combined with increased investments in fossil fuels, would threaten 
future generations with potentially catastrophic increases in 
temperatures and sea levels unprecedented in human history. If 
President-elect Trump and the Republican Congress get their way, it is 
the American people who will suffer.
  Climate change is a global crisis, requiring global solutions. The 
United States has the opportunity and obligation to be the world's 
leader on climate, not just because we are the second largest producer 
of greenhouse gas emissions, but because we have the world's strongest 
economy and the power to drive innovation.
  Taking a back seat in addressing climate change will undercut our 
economic competitiveness and cede ground to China and other 
industrialized nations. And while the President-elect may seek to 
reverse the progress we have made in recent years, the American people 
understand that climate change is real. They are already coping with 
the impacts, which are becoming worse each year. I, and many others in 
the Senate, remain committed to working to transition away from fossil 
fuels, protect clean air and water, support vulnerable communities, and 
preserve biodiversity. We will continue to do all we can to ensure the 
United States does its part.
  Unfortunately, at COP29, we are witnessing what an absence of strong 
U.S. leadership looks like. Argentina has withdrawn its delegation and, 
following in the President-elect's footsteps, is reconsidering its 
participation in the Paris Agreement. The heads of state of China, 
France, Germany, Japan, and India declined to attend. In fact, the top 
leaders of the 13 largest carbon emitters, including the U.S., are 
absent.
  International cooperation must go on. COP29 must reaffirm, despite 
the ebbs and flows of electoral politics, that there is still an 
international commitment to address the climate crisis. A recent UN 
report on the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the 
Paris Agreement showed them falling woefully short of what is needed to 
avert what UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell described 
as a ``human and economic train wreck for every country, without 
exception.'' New NDCs, which will outline parties' efforts to lower 
emissions through 2035, are due in February of next year and must be 
ambitious, substantive, and actionable to avoid an economic and human 
catastrophe.
  In another measure of our collective ambitions, negotiators in Baku 
will set a new climate finance goal to replace the $100 billion annual 
contributions pledged by developed countries to fund climate actions in 
developing nations. Experts have estimated that the need for financial 
assistance will exceed $1 trillion annually by 2035. While countries 
have balked at this figure, direct fossil fuel subsidies reached $1.3 
trillion in 2022, according to the International Monetary Fund. 
Negotiators must increase public contributions by several orders of 
magnitude--hundreds of billions of dollars--in order to successfully 
leverage private finance if we hope to achieve this goal.
  COP29 will also seek to implement article 6 of the Paris Agreement, 
which allows countries to trade emission reductions, by establishing 
rules for international carbon markets. Any markets emerging from these 
negotiations must be transparent, include strong environmental 
guardrails, and be strictly enforced. They must account for the full 
lifecycle of carbon emissions, a range of conservation actions, and the 
unique natural resources of countries across the world. Carbon markets 
cannot be allowed to ``greenwash'' or ``offset'' continued emissions by 
polluters, but facilitate real, lasting change in our global energy 
systems.
  Finally, we must use COP29 as an opportunity to continue building 
momentum in the effort to limit the climate crisis. While we need to do 
more, we have made positive strides in recent years. The President's 
Emergency Plan for Adaptation and Resilience has mobilized billions of 
dollars to help developing countries manage the effects of global 
warming, reducing the risk of climate-fueled conflict and migration. 
Policies to strengthen the renewable energy sector have made renewables 
the cheapest electricity on the market, lowering the energy cost burden 
for consumers. Investments in green manufacturing will produce hundreds 
of thousands of new, good-paying, American jobs. Climate action is not 
only good for the environment, but also for our economy, public health, 
and national security.
  COP29 must remind us of these facts and inspire action. Climate 
change is an existential threat that may soon dwarf all others we face. 
The 2050 deadline for climate action is only 25 years away. We are no 
longer talking about future generations; it is our generation that will 
have to contend with a climate that is increasingly hostile. The

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clock is running out. There is no more time to waste.

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