Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report on Mitigation

Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

This morning’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on mitigation  makes clear what we can do to stop or slow planetary warming.  The report also reveals how current global efforts to mitigate the climate crisis fall far short of what is needed.  Without full implementation of current national pledges and robust, aggressive, and ambitious further action we cannot keep the 1.5 degrees Celsius goal within reach.

That is why we have called this the decisive decade.  The IPCC found there are options available now, in all sectors, that can halve global emissions by 2030 – from improving energy efficiency, to halting and reversing global deforestation, to deploying more sustainable transportation and clean energy.  There are ways to improve our chances of success, including more effective decision-making across all levels of government, increased alignment of financial flows with climate outcomes, and enhanced international cooperation.

The report also tells us there is reason for hope.  The IPCC found we are making some progress towards the needed reductions in carbon emissions. With actions already taken, and the pledges made under the Paris Agreement through COP26, we can get closer to limiting warming to 2 degrees Celsius, and with additional effort we can keep 1.5 degrees Celsius within reach.

That is why the Administration has made tackling the climate crisis a central part of its agenda from Day One.  The President’s FY 2023 budget request to Congress includes more than $11 billion in international climate finance to avert the worst impacts of climate change and to support developing countries in taking more ambitious climate action.

This report makes it clear:  the tools to stave off the worst impacts of the climate crisis are firmly within our grasp.  Nations of the world must be brave enough to use them.