How to Take Climate Action and Tackle Inequality: Federal Policy Recommendations
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), all pathways that will limit global warming to 1.5°C, with no or limited overshoot, require rapid and far-reaching changes in energy, land, urban areas and infrastructure, including transport and buildings, and industrial systems. The changes required are unprecedented in scale and imply sharp reductions in emissions in all sectors. For this to happen the biggest polluters, in particular big businesses, must adopt 1.5 aligned Science Based Targets approved by SBTI. Done right, these targets, combined with carbon removals, provide guiding principles for climate action that could spur massive decarbonization and a just transition away from unequal and carbon-dependent economic models towards more equitable and sustainable models that secure the future and livelihoods of workers and their communities. However, vague and unimplemented climate action plans risk being a dangerous distraction that could exacerbate the climate crisis as well as inequality.
The U.S., historically the largest fossil fuel emitter, has an urgent and important role to play in the just transition. Through government action the U.S. must shift the course of the climate crisis and set a positive example for other wealthy nations in the global north and corporations.