A group of more than 500 business leaders and investors are demanding that lawmakers “take immediate and ambitious action” to address the economic threats from climate change made clear in the Trump administration’s 4th National Climate Assessment via a letter sent to all members of the Congress.
The letter, organized by E2 (Environmental Entrepreneurs), was signed by executives from real estate, investment, agriculture, energy and technology businesses in every state. “Businesses and investors across the country are already experiencing the losses and other economic impacts of climate change,” pointed out E2 executive director Bob Keefe in a statement released today.
Business leaders and investors who signed the letter demand that Congress heed the Climate Assessment report by “passing legislation that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase the deployment of clean energy technologies and better prepare our nation’s infrastructure for the impacts of climate change….”
The 2018 report states that without “significant global mitigation action and regional adaptation efforts,” rising temperatures, sea level rise, and increased frequency of extreme weather events are expected to increasingly disrupt and damage critical infrastructure and property, labor productivity, and the vitality of communities. By the end of the century, climate change could cost the US economy $500 billion per year, the report concludes.
It is vital that Congress exert leadership on climate due to the “Trump administration’s roll backs to critical federal programs that encourage growth in the clean energy and transportation sectors, clean our air and water and reduce carbon emissions,” the letter states. “Executive moves against the Clean Power Plan, fuel economy standards and the bipartisan and industry-backed Mercury Air Toxics (MATS) rulemaking are just a handful of bad decisions. That leaves it to you as members of Congress to protect the American people and our economy by passing legislation to encourage deployment of clean energy and transportation, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and make our infrastructure smarter and more resilient.”
Signers of the letter include business leaders, educators and entrepreneurs from organizations including Ameresco, Colorado State University, Environmental Entrepreneurs, JPS Global Investments, MIT, Mitsubishi, Solar Energy Corp., US Army – Fort Carson, and more than 500 others.
In the Climate Assessment’s overview, the authors write that, while Americans are responding to the impacts of climate change in ways that can bolster resilience and improve livelihoods, neither global nor regional efforts even approach the scale needed to “avoid substantial damages to the US economy, environment, and human health and well-being over the coming decades.”