There's a New Pledge from North & South American Leaders to Fight Climate Change Rachel Browne - VICE News
go to original August 1, 2015

Representatives from across North and South America gathered in Toronto last month for the Climate Summit of the Americas, where the government of Ontario and 21 other jurisdictions signed the first-ever Pan-American action statement on climate change.

Signatories to the statement — including Vermont, Oregon, and San Paolo — agreed to band together to make sure global temperature levels don't go up more than two degrees celsius, report publicly on their efforts to reduce emissions, and support carbon pricing.

"With strength and collaboration across the Americas, across provinces, states, and cities, we're providing critical climate change solutions," Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, who organized the two-day summit, told reporters today, adding that the statement sets the stage for the UN climate conference in Paris later this year.

Speakers included former US vice-president Al Gore, former president of Mexico Felipe Calderón, and California Governor Jerry Brown. CEOs from Royal Dutch Shell and the US Chamber of Commerce were also in attendance.

Al Gore started the final day of the summit with an optimistic speech about the future of the clean energy sector. "The thrilling news is the cost of renewable sources of energy is plummeting much faster than anyone expected they would," he told the crowd.

Urgent action on climate change is needed immediately, Gore continued, citing the surge of climate refugees around the world, raging wildfires in Saskatchewan and Washington, and the drought in California. "It is striking, isn't it, that every night on television news is like a nature hike through the Book of Revelation," he said.

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Photo: Newzulu/The Canadian Press

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