Statement of Sen. Timothy E. Wirth on the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Working Group III Report

Statement of Sen. Timothy E. Wirth, Vice Chair of the United Nations Foundation, on the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Working Group III Report on Mitigation of Climate Change:

“Today the world’s foremost panel of scientific experts, working under the auspices of the United Nations, warned us that when it comes to climate change, delay does not work in our favor – the longer we wait, the more costly it will be to respond. Fortunately, economically attractive technologies to substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions are increasingly available today. We must rapidly increase their use to minimize the risk of destabilizing the world’s climate.

“Public and private investment in research, development, and deployment of clean energy technologies – both renewables and higher-efficiency devices – is yielding results. Using energy more sensibly not only reduces costs but can improve productivity and quality of life. Cleaner energy sources – renewable energy, especially wind and solar, as well as the least carbon-intensive fossil fuel, natural gas – are increasing their penetration of the world’s energy markets, too slowly but with increasing momentum.

“We are in the early stages of a global race to transform our energy systems – likely the largest economic opportunity of the 21st century. The economic dividends that flow from a low-carbon economy will sustain progress toward stabilizing the climate, to be sure, but will also produce new businesses, more jobs, cleaner air and water, and better public health.”

###

Media Contact: Sahar Wali

swali@unfoundation.org