Climate change mitigation

“ But low-carbon technologies, and environmental technologies more generally, face a unique barrier: their benefits – the reduction in global impacts of climate change – accrue to everyone and not just to the developer or adopter of such technologies. ”

“ The world must reduce greenhouse gas emissions to prevent the most dangerous consequences of climate change. Even with increased efforts to curb these emissions, we must prepare for and adapt to the impacts of climate change. ”

“ The question is whether we will have the courage to act before it’s too late. The national Climate Action Plan I unveiled will cut carbon pollution, protect our country from the impacts of climate change, and lead the world in a coordinated assault on a changing climate.
To reduce carbon pollution, I’ve directed the Environmental Protection Agency to work with states and businesses to set new standards that put an end to the limitless dumping of carbon pollution from our power plants. We’ll use more clean energy and waste less energy throughout our economy. ”

“ Increasing the ability to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change and foster climate resilience and low greenhouse gas emissions development, in a manner that does not threaten food production; (c) Making finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate- resilient development. ”

“ As income and wealth grow and technology improves, the studies say, future generations are likely to find it easier to adapt to the effects of a changing climate and to gradually impose increasingly strict restraints on emissions to avoid further alteration. ”

“ The United States has also continued a variety of longstanding programs that tend to discourage emissions or encourage the removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere—but that were originally intended to achieve other goals, such as pollution reduction, energy independence, and the limitation of soil erosion. ”

“ Human activity since the Industrial Revolution, particularly the cumulative carbon dioxide emissions resulting from the huge consumption of fossil fuels by developed countries, have led to a significant increase in the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases exacerbating climate change characterized by global warming. ”

“ The science is more complex, the answers are less certain, and the technology is less developed. So we need a flexible approach that can adjust to new information and new technology.
I reaffirm America's commitment to the United Nations Framework Convention and it's central goal, to stabilize atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations at a level that will prevent dangerous human interference with the climate. Our immediate goal is to reduce America's greenhouse gas emissions relative to the size of our economy. ”

“ The accumulation of those gases is changing the composition of the atmosphere and is probably contributing to a gradual warming of the Earth’s climate—the characteristic weather conditions that prevail in various regions of the world. Scientists generally agree that continued population growth and economic development over the next century will result in substantially more greenhouse gas emissions and further warming unless measures are taken to constrain those emissions. ”

“ It continuously improves the capability of addressing climate change with the aid of scientific and technological progress, thereby making positive contributions to the environmental protection of the Earth. ”

“ That's why, over the past six years, we've done more than ever before to combat climate change, from the way we produce energy, to the way we use it. That's why we've set aside more public lands and waters than any administration in history. ”

“ And, finally, my government is following through on our commitment to provide $25 million for climate observation systems in developing countries that will help scientists understand the dynamics of climate change.
To clean the air, and to address climate change, we need to recognize that economic growth and environmental protection go hand in hand. Affluent societies are the ones that demand, and can therefore afford, the most environmental protection. ”

“ Each alternative simultaneously addresses the problems of limiting emissions and distributing the burden of regulation, which remain the crucial sources of disagreement. Each option reflects a distinct interpretation of the available evidence about the net benefits of averting climate change in different regions and for different generations, as well as practical concerns about how climate policy would affect the global economy. ”

“ The development of production- and consumer-oriented service industries picked up momentum. We took serious measures to conserve energy, reduce emissions, and protect the environment, exceeding obligatory targets. We released self-imposed emissions reduction targets and contributed to the positive outcomes of international negotiations on climate change. ”

“ Put another way, effective climate policy involves making investments today to yield future returns in the form of a beneficial climate—with due regard for the scientific and economic uncertainty involved. Those investments could take several forms, such as restrictions on emissions levels and research to improve understanding of the physical processes of climate change and to develop alternatives to fossil fuels. ”

“ While scientists continue to refine projections, it is clear that climate change will continue and its damaging impacts will intensify without considerable action to reduce GHG emissions and to respond with adaptive measures. Even with significant near-term emissions reductions, dealing with near- and mid-term impacts due to past and current emissions will still pose challenges. ”

“ Instead of restricting emissions, current generations could address these distributional concerns by making additional capital investments to benefit future generations, with the intention of offsetting potential future damages from climate change or of compensating future generations for those damages. ”

“ Our overriding environmental challenge tonight is the worldwide problem of climate change, global warming, the gathering crisis that requires worldwide action. The vast majority of scientists have concluded unequivocally that if we don't reduce the emission of greenhouse gasses at some point in the next century, we'll disrupt or climate and put our children and grandchildren at risk. ”

“ For simplicity’s sake, the proposal ignores emissions from non-fossil-energy sources and exempts countries with low per capita income for distributional reasons. The system would yield an estimated two-thirds of the net benefits that could be realized by an ideal system covering only emissions from fossil energy use. Furthermore, nearly all regions would share in the system’s beneficial effects on the climate. ”

“ We must commit to sustainable development. Climate change results from unsustainable development models, thus it can be fundamentally resolved only by taking coordinated actions within the framework of sustainable development. All countries should integrate climate action into their national overall plans for sustainable development, promote a green, low-carbon, circular and sustainable approach to life and work, and foster a model of sustainable development featuring increased output, higher living standards, and healthy ecosystems. ”

“ Government policies that deal with use of the atmosphere inevitably affect the distribution of resources. Inaction benefits people who are alive today while potentially harming future generations. Reducing emissions now may benefit future generations while imposing costs on the current population and may benefit countries at relatively higher risk of adverse effects from warming while hurting those that stand to gain from it. ”

“ Given that air pollutants associated with climate change are accumulating in the atmosphere at an alarming rate, the window of opportunity in which we can mitigate the dangers posed by climate change is rapidly closing. ”

“ Will rising greenhouse gas concentrations increase the probability of threshold effects, which could suddenly shift the climate into a significantly different global pattern?
Other sources of uncertainty are essentially economic. How rapidly will the world’s population and economies grow? How energy- and land-intensive will human activities be, and how much of the energy used for those activities will come from fossil fuels? How will policies to control emissions of greenhouse gases or to encourage technological developments affect the accumulation of gases in the atmosphere? ”

“ Fourth Assessment Report showed that global anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gasses have increased 70% between 1970 and 2004, and anthropogenic emissions are very likely the cause of global climate change. ”

“ Put another way, they maintain that developed countries have already used up a large portion of their rightful allotment of emissions and that developing countries now have a strong claim to the bulk of emissions to be allowed in the future—those that are unlikely to cause serious damage to the climate. ”

“ The study found little net advantage in averting climate change because the assessment balanced current prosperity against future prosperity and the future benefits of economic growth against the future benefits of a stable climate. To avert climate change over the long run, society would have to reduce emissions both today and later. That policy would reduce current generations’ prosperity and slow the rate of economic growth, thus leaving future generations less affluent, too. ”

“ Spurring transformational technologies that can help reduce emissions and adapt to climate change, while also creating enormous new economic opportunities and building the industries of the future. Showcasing subnational and non-state actors that are committed to green recovery and an equitable vision for limiting warming to 1.5 degree Celsius, and are working closely with national governments to advance ambition and resilience. ”

“ Extreme weather events and other climate-related effects have harmed the health, safety, and security of the American people and have increased the urgency for combatting climate change and accelerating the transition toward a clean energy economy. The world must be put on a sustainable climate pathway to protect Americans and the domestic economy from harmful climate impacts, and to create well-paying union jobs as part of the climate solution.
(d) The Keystone XL pipeline disserves the U.S. national interest. The United States and the world face a climate crisis. ”

“ The issue of climate change is one that we ignore at our own peril. There may still be disputes about exactly how much we’re contributing to the warming of the earth’s atmosphere and how much is naturally occurring, but what we can be scientifically certain of is that our continued use of fossil fuels is pushing us to a point of no return. ”

“ Regulation and Innovation To a great extent, the cost of controlling greenhouse gas emissions and stabilizing atmospheric concentrations will ultimately depend on technological developments over the next century. Innovation that dramatically reduces the cost of producing energy from non-fossil sources or of sequestering carbon dioxide emissions will ease the process of controlling emissions; innovation that tends to reduce the cost of finding, extracting, and using fossil fuels will complicate it. ”

“ You know, we can put millions of Americans to work modernizing our water systems, transportation, our energy infrastructure to withstand the impacts of extreme climate. We’ve already reached a point where we’re going to have to live with what it is now. That’s going to require a lot of work all by itself, without it getting any worse.
When we think of renewable energy, we see American manufacturing, American workers racing to lead the global market. We see farmers making American agriculture first in the world to achieve net-zero emissions and gaining new sources of income in the process. ”

“ Through structural adjustment, optimized configuration, policy synergy and innovative mechanisms, efforts to reduce pollution and carbon emissions are planned and carried out in tandem, and the performance assessment of the two is also conducted jointly. Balancing environmental, climate and economic gains, China has found a unique path to reducing greenhouse gas emissions that conforms to its actual conditions. ”

“ A variety of technological options are available to restrain the growth of emissions, including improvements in the efficiency of people’s use of fossil energy, alternative energy technologies such as nuclear or renewable power, methods for removing greenhouse gases from smokestacks, and approaches to sequestering gases in forests, soils, and oceans. But those alternatives are likely to be costly, and they are unlikely to be widely implemented unless measures are taken to lower their price or to raise the price of greenhouse gas emissions. ”

“ America and the world share this common goal: we must foster economic growth in ways that protect our environment. We must encourage growth that will provide a better life for citizens, while protecting the land, the water, and the air that sustain life.
In pursuit of this goal, my government has set two priorities: we must clean our air, and we must address the issue of global climate change. We must also act in a serious and responsible way, given the scientific uncertainties. While these uncertainties remain, we can begin now to address the human factors that contribute to climate change. ”

“ Parties recognize the importance of averting, minimizing and addressing loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change, including extreme weather events and slow onset events, and the role of sustainable development in reducing the risk of loss and damage. ”