Statement from Sierra Club on IPCC Science Report

WASHINGTON, D.C.-- Early this morning, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its scientific findings that will inform its next major climate report, currently expected in 2022. The alarming findings confirm that the climate crisis has continued to accelerate since the last IPCC report in 2018, and the extreme weather events we’re already experiencing -- including historic droughts and floods, superstorms, record-breaking wildfires, and unprecedented coastal flooding -- will continue to rapidly worsen unless the world cuts all carbon pollution in half by 2031 and invests in clean energy solutions that completely end all carbon pollution by 2050. Yet even after the world moves to a 100 percent clean energy economy, the report confirms that we are already locked into the climate crisis for at least the next three decades; the full severity of the crisis is yet to be determined.These extreme weather events are most heavily affecting frontline, low-income, and communities of color. 

In response, the Sierra Club’s International Climate and Policy Campaign Director Cherelle Blazer issued the following statement:

“These latest findings from the IPCC affirm what we already know: the climate crisis is picking up speed at an alarming rate and we are long past the point of debating about it. Congress must pass bold infrastructure legislation now. The cost of inaction is not simply the billions of dollars spent managing and rebuilding after wildfires, droughts, floods, and hurricanes; the cost of inaction is and will continue to be the loss of people’s lives and livelihoods. All too often, the communities least responsible for our climate pollution are facing the brunt of the crisis, and we have a responsibility to come together with the rest of the world to protect the land, air, and water on which our future depends. Swift and decisive climate action is necessary to preserve our home, our planet.  

“We still have a chance to come together to change the course of history, but we must take care of each other and lead with our values. These problems are people made, and can be people solved, from the ground up. We must invest in our communities to ensure that we are able to recover from, prepare for, and mitigate the impacts of current and future climate disasters. And we must transition to a 100 percent clean economy without delay. We have the tools and the information in hand, and the choices we make now will shape our future. Congress must act with haste to pass bold infrastructure legislation that centers climate action at its core, including through major clean energy tax credits, a Clean Energy Payment Program, a Civilian Climate Corps, expanded electric vehicle investments, and much, much more. We can and we must work together to create a livable planet for everyone.”