WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) released the following statement Monday on a new report from the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The Fifth Assessment Report is the first issued by the United Nations-appointed panel since 2007.
“Climate change is real. Its causes are well documented, but we must continue to study and plan for its impacts. The findings from this report paint a detailed and alarming picture of how climate change will affect the health, security, and economies of communities around the world. Echoing previous findings, the report also shows that these burdens – from decreasing crop yields to extreme weather – fall disproportionately on the world’s most impoverished and marginalized communities.
“This report is the latest in a long chain of evidence that proves we need to take this threat seriously, while we can still make a difference. The science of climate change ought to be held in higher regard than the politics of climate change. It respects no border or political affiliation — it affects us all. Climate change is fact, and we pretend otherwise at our peril. The cost of the status quo — our continued indifference — is simply too high."