U.S. Contribution to the United Nations Framework Convention

Submission of the U.S. Intended Nationally Determined Contribution to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

Press Statement
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
March 31, 2015

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Climate change is the defining challenge of our generation, and the United States is committed to playing a leading role in the global effort to address it.

I was in Beijing with President Obama last November when he outlined the United States’ ambitious post-2020 greenhouse gas emissions target alongside Chinese President Xi Jinping. At a joint press conference, our nations each outlined bold climate change and clean energy objectives. For our part, the United States committed to cut our emissions by 26 to 28 percent from 2005 levels by the year 2025 – which would put us on the path to economy-wide reductions of around 80 percent by mid-century.

Today the United States took an important step towards its objective by formally submitting our commitment to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Now it’s time for other nations and come forward with their own targets to help ensure we can reach a global agreement at the UN Climate Conference in Paris later this year.

President Obama has already put in place the most ambitious set of climate change actions that the United States has ever undertaken. We’ve adopted standards to double the fuel efficiency of American cars and trucks, and we also have rules in the works to cut emissions from new and existing power plants. And the target we formalized today will only accelerate these reductions in the future.

We know there is no way the United States--nor any other country--could possibly address climate change alone. This is a global challenge, and an effective solution will require countries around the world to do their part to reduce emissions and bring about a global clean-energy future. That’s the only way we’ll meet this challenge, and it’s the only way we’ll honor our shared responsibility to future generations.

ENDS

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