November 30, 2015

World Wildlife Fund issued the following statement from Lou Leonard, VP, climate change, in response to today’s address from President Obama at the UN climate talks in Paris:

“With his address, President Obama is working to bridge the trust gap hanging over the talks.

“While the Obama Administration has worked hard on a set of actions at home to reduce emissions, they now need to turn their attention to the rest of the world.

“Obama set the right vision for international cooperation during his remarks and made a down payment on the kind of action we need. He sent a clear message to US negotiators about how they should spend their time over the next two weeks – focus on elements that foster greater international cooperation and signal to developing nations that the United States is committed to supporting their low-carbon transition.

“To follow through on this vision, they must leverage the full force of the United States economy to resource this transformation in the developing economies where emissions are projected to grow fastest. The pledges already on the table in Paris include the potential for an additional five gigatonnes of emission reductions that can be activated with support from countries like United States.

“To echo President Obama: Let’s get to work.”