[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 15528-15529]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      U.S.-CHINA CLIMATE AGREEMENT

  Mr. SCHATZ. Mr. President, I rise to commend the historic agreement 
reached yesterday between the United States and China, the world's 
largest emitters of carbon pollution. This agreement is the latest and 
perhaps most consequential in a string of actions President Obama has 
taken to fight climate change.
  Today, we have hope. We have hope because this agreement puts the 
world on a path towards solving climate change--hope because the 
world's two largest emitters have found common cause in protecting 
public health and economic opportunity for their citizens and for the 
world and hope because we are once again reminded what American 
leadership and political will can accomplish.
  President Obama and President Xi of China recognize that climate 
change threatens our families, our jobs, our health, and our way of 
life. They deserve our thanks, as does Secretary Kerry, for their 
tireless work and dedication to this cause.
  We can solve this. We know what we need to do, and we know how to do 
it. Today we see what political will can accomplish. I am now more 
hopeful than ever that we can keep warming below 2 degrees Celsius by 
the end of the century. This is the level scientists say is necessary 
to stay below in order to avoid catastrophic global consequences.
  Together our two countries account for about 40 percent of the 
world's greenhouse gas emissions. We have a responsibility to act early 
and to act together, and this agreement puts us on that path.
  The agreement recognizes that the United States and China must take 
short- and long-term measures to reduce emissions and encourage the 
development of clean energy. This represents a major shift for China, 
which had struggled to balance economic growth with growing pollution 
and has now agreed to cap carbon pollution for the first time ever. It 
is difficult to overstate what an important achievement this is, 
especially a full year before the next round of international 
negotiations in Paris.
  As Secretary Kerry said today, this is a major signal to other 
countries that they should also put forth ambitious emissions reduction 
goals well before international negotiations start in 2015.
  In addition, China has agreed to get a full 20 percent of its energy 
from zero emission sources by 2030. This means China will have to 
deploy close to 1,000 gigawatts of new zero emission powerplants. This 
is the amount of electricity the entire United States currently 
generates and shows just how serious China is about addressing this 
problem.
  American leadership was crucial in forging these goals. It wouldn't 
have been possible without the President's Clean Power Plan, which will 
reduce emissions from the power sector by 30 percent relative to 2005 
levels by the year 2030.
  This agreement goes beyond even those ambitious targets, and in the 
coming months and years, it will be important for this President and 
the next to maintain and strengthen the Environmental Protection 
Agency's

[[Page 15529]]

ability to protect Americans from harmful pollution.
  Despite near universal consensus among climate scientists that the 
Clean Power Plan is part of the solution to fighting climate change, 
today that plan is under attack in Congress. Right after the President 
announced this historic agreement, climate deniers in Congress started 
rolling out every tired argument in the book. In fact, one of our 
colleagues here has already dubbed this plan ``unrealistic'' and called 
it an ``ideological war.''
  These claims are the last bastion of a hopeless cause that ignores 
what we see all around us--from farmers to fishermen to small-town 
mayors. Theirs is an untenable position, because poll after poll shows 
that Americans do care about this issue. They care about it deeply. 
Americans care because they know fighting climate change is really 
about protecting their children's health, protecting economic 
opportunity, and leaving our children a world better than our own.
  We are seeing the deniers' arguments collapse around them. One of 
their favorite tropes was to claim that U.S. actions are meaningless 
without action from China. Well, it looks as though that argument took 
a fairly big hit yesterday.
  In fact, the U.S. did act first by developing the Clean Power Plan. 
The rules haven't even been finalized, but they are already giving us 
the leverage to reach major international agreements.
  As excuse after excuse fails, we will see climate deniers retreat to 
tired claims that anything we do to reduce pollution will hurt the 
economy. But remember that we have heard these claims before. They were 
wrong then, and they are wrong now.
  The list is long, so I will mention just a few. Taking the lead out 
of gasoline, putting catalytic converters in cars, reducing acid rain, 
all were met with panicky claims of economic devastation. But what we 
have learned is that keeping our air and our water clean actually helps 
our economy.
  This agreement between the United States and China is historic. It is 
a real breakthrough, and it gives us hope that we will be able to 
confront and resolve one of the greatest challenges of our time. But it 
is still just an agreement. We need to follow through with action. We 
must listen to the American people and amplify their voices as they 
call for action to preserve our health, our economy, and our way of 
life.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Brown). The Senator from Louisiana.

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