World leaders accelerate the Paris Agreement
The Business Council for Sustainable Energy (BCSE) commended national leaders throughout the world as 72 countries that make up approximately 56.75 percent of global emissions officially joined the Paris Agreement on Wednesday, accelerating the agreement into force.
“The achievement of the Paris Agreement’s rapid entry into force speaks to the global community’s understanding of the urgent need to take action on climate change,” President of the BCSE Lisa Jacobson said. “That sense of urgency is echoed in a recent open letter by 375 members of the National Academy of Sciences that draws attention to the serious risks of climate change.
“In the light of these calls to action, the council draws attention to the fact that we have an existing suite of commercially-available clean energy technologies that can deliver greenhouse gas emissions reductions and bolster our communities’ resilience to a changing climate. A broad array of public policies – from energy to tax policy to the Clean Power Plan to national commitments under the Paris Agreement – are what is needed to create market certainty and drive accelerated investment into and deployment of these clean energy solutions.”
The BCSE hopes to enable countries wishing to implement the Paris Agreement, Jacobson said, and plans to head a delegation composed of member companies during the 22nd Conference of the Parties (COP 22) addressing the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The Paris Agreement is scheduled to begin upon the start of COP 22 on Nov. 7.
