Time to Declare Climate Emergency, Fund Green New Deal and Climate Mitigation

Green Party of the United States
www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Wednesday, March 31, 2021

Contact:

Michael O’Neil, Communications Manager, [email protected], 202-804-2758
Holly Hart, Co-chair, Media Committee, [email protected], 202-804-2758
Craig Seeman, Co-chair, Media Committee,  [email protected], 202-804-2758

WASHINGTON — The Green Party of the United States said that President Biden at his upcoming international Earth Day summit should commit the U.S. to a 100% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. It also wants the President to formally declare a climate emergency, embrace a robust carbon tax, and increase U.S. funding for the climate mitigation fund for developing countries and Global South.

“We know how to do it. What we lack are politicians willing to stand up to the political power and campaign donations of the fossil fuel industry,” said Mark Dunlea, co-chair of the Green Party’s EcoAction Committee.

Green Party members are helping to organize events from Earth Day to May Day to highlight the urgent need for climate change, and to make the connection to the need for overall system change including environmental justice, labor rights and grassroots democracy.

The Greens, who started calling for an ecosocialist Green New Deal in the U.S. in 2010, recently called for Congress to pass a $4.1 trillion a year (for 10 years) green economic stimulus to create 30 million jobs and accelerate the transition to 100% renewable energy from all sources by 2030. Biden is reportedly considering a one-time, $3 trillion green infrastructure stimulus, though only about $400 billion for direct climate measures.

“At the world’s present rate of greenhouse gas emissions, we have 7 years left before we deplete our carbon budget if we want to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees C. The U.S. needs to declare a climate emergency to launch an all-out mobilization of our nation’s resources to give generations to come a chance for a decent future,” said Dunlea.

“Who led the industrial polluters to fight the rest of the world in Paris, five years ago, against lowering the climate target from 2 degrees C to 1.5 degrees? The United States,  under Obama, Kerry and Gore. And the U.S. defeated requiring countries to set firm emission reductions,” said Green Party National Co-Chair Trahern Crews.

“It is time to repeal the powers that Bill Clinton gave to the World Trade Organization to support corporate globalization. We must strip corporations of the power to veto national laws, especially those dealing with the environment and fair trade. We need the world to impose sanctions on any company and country that fails to take effective action to curb global warming,” said Hillary Kane, who serves on the Green Party’s Steering Committee.

The Global Greens are mobilizing Green Parties worldwide to win their agenda at the “last chance” COP26 meeting in Glasgow in November; many Green Party members will be voting delegates representing their respective countries.

In addition to mandatory greenhouse gas emission cuts, the Green Party supports imposing financial penalties on polluters with a robust carbon fee (not cap-and-trade or carbon offsets) combined with a significant dividend to low- and middle-income households to offset the regressive nature of any energy tax. The International Monetary Fund estimates that worldwide fossil fuel companies receive more than $5 trillion annually in subsidies, primarily due to governments failing to make them pay for the damages caused by their emissions.

The Green Party promotes public and worker ownership of the energy system. It supports democratic planning of the economy to focus on the public good rather than maximizing private wealth.

“The U.S. and the rest of the world must act immediately to address the climate emergency. We must halt fracking for oil and gas and new fossil fuel infrastructure, including gas and oil pipelines and gas-fired power plants. Climate recovery requires a ten-year plan to phase out fossil fuels as we phase in clean renewables. We must replace fossil fuels to heat buildings with heat pumps powered by clean electricity. We must reject false climate solutions, including carbon capture, biomass, natural gas, and nuclear power, while embracing natural means to draw carbon out of the atmosphere and into the biosphere with regenerative agriculture and reforestation,” said Howie Hawkins, the 2020 Green Party presidential candidate and the first candidate to campaign for a Green New Deal in the United States, in 2010.

MORE INFORMATION

Green New Deal description at GP.org

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