Today, the U.S. government released the Fifth National Climate Assessment (NCA5), the Congressionally-mandated report on climate change impacts in the United States. “Our elected leaders owe it to their constituents to come to terms with the challenges of climate change. Only then can we find ways to work together to implement equitable solutions that will help communities prepare for and adapt to increasingly severe climate impacts,” said Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) President Daniel Bresette.

Read More

The Biden-Harris Administration unveiled America’s new greenhouse gas emission reduction commitments as part of its contribution to the Paris Agreement, which seeks to keep global warming significantly below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 F). The United States, which announced it would rejoin the Paris Agreement on President Biden's first day in office, has pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by more than 50 percent from 2005 levels by 2030. "The Biden-Harris Administration means business,” said EESI Executive Director Daniel Bresette, welcoming the news. “Meeting this new goal will make a significant contribution to the global fight against climate change. It is much more ambitious than America's initial goal to cut emissions by 26 to 28 percent by 2025. Other countries, including China, Britain, and the members of the European Union, have also raised their ambitions in the runup to the next U.N. climate summit this year. I am more optimistic than I have been in a long time.

Read More

The Environmental and Energy Study Institute's executive director, Daniel Bresette, welcomed President Joe Biden's executive order marking the return of the United States to the Paris Agreement. It was one of Biden's first actions as president following his inauguration today.

Read More

EESI Executive Director Daniel Bresette: “The United States formally withdrew from the Paris Agreement today, the only nation—out of 196—to do so. Climate change is real and we are already feeling the effects of it across the United States. The longer we wait to get serious about climate change, the harder, more disruptive, and costlier it will be to curb temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius. States and cities are doing their best to keep up, but we need the federal government to be part of the effort. We should be leading, but instead we are retreating.”

Read More

Today, the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world’s leading body of climate scientists, released its Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (the cryosphere refers to areas containing frozen water, such as glaciers and snowcapped mountains). More than 100 scientists from 80 countries examined thousands of peer-reviewed studies to assess the impacts of climate change on the world’s oceans, as well as its coastal, polar, and mountain regions. Their conclusions were grim. “Global warming of 1 degree Celsius has already taken place, and the impacts are already being felt: rising sea levels, disappearing glaciers, more extreme weather, marine heatwaves…” noted EESI Executive Director Carol Werner. “Already severe, these impacts will only get worse as we continue to release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.”

Read More

This Saturday, 197 countries—including the United States—agreed on a rule book for the Paris Climate Agreement, which calls on the world's nations to keep global warming significantly below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit). Participating countries have already submitted written pledges to cut their greenhouse gas emissions, by transitioning to cleaner energy sources and by promoting energy efficiency. But rules were needed to ensure that countries could monitor each other’s actions, and properly measure their impacts.

Read More