On the Cusp of a Major Climate Milestone!

Incredible news: Ahead of the G20 summit, the United States and China formally joined the Paris Climate Agreement yesterday. This historic announcement by President Obama and President Xi has catapulted the world to the cusp of formally implementing the Paris Agreement this year.

Implementing the Paris Agreement will be a major global climate milestone, but there’s still unfinished business at the G20 summit.

Dumb and wasteful — that’s how a recent Bloomberg View editorial described fossil fuel subsidies. We couldn’t agree more.

We’re living through what is likely to be the warmest year on record, yet governments continue to subsidize fossil fuels that power climate disruption. Despite a 2009 pledge to phase out these toxic subsidies, G20 nations are currently spending hundreds of billions of dollars each year to prop up this dirty and destructive industry.

Since we launched our Fossil Free Finance campaign two weeks ago, more than 25,000 Sierra Club members and supporters have called on G20 leaders to put an end to these destructive subsidies and instead finance a clean energy economy. But we’re missing one important voice — yours.

Add your name now and call on world leaders to commit to phasing out fossil fuel subsidies by 2020 at this week’s G20 summit.

From international financial institutions to our individual investment portfolios, every dollar we keep out of the hands of the fossil fuel industry is one less dollar fueling climate destruction. And every dollar we can reinvest in renewable energy is a dollar that goes toward solutions — providing power to people across the world and ending our reliance on fossil fuels.

The Paris Climate Agreement, reached last year, was a landmark achievement that puts us on the path to reducing worldwide emissions and increasing investment in clean, renewable energy. With G20 nations responsible for 74% of global greenhouse gas emissions, embracing the shift to clean energy and ending G20 subsidies for fossil fuels is essential.

President Obama and world leaders are meeting at the G20 summit in China this week. Tell them to phase out fossil fuel subsidies by 2020.

 

If we raise our voices together, we can make change happen.

Sincerely,

Maura Cowley
Sierra Club

References:
1. U.S. and China Formally Join the Paris Agreement, Sierra Club.
2. Fuel Subsidies Are the World’s Dumbest Policy, Bloomberg Views