Influence International Climate Action
Climate change pollution knows no borders. Car exhaust in Los Angeles contributes to extreme flooding in India, while smokestacks in Beijing help fuel prolonged drought in the American West. No country can tackle this threat alone. Yet for too long, many nations have offered little more than vague promises and distant goals.
Combining advocacy for international policy changes with on-the-ground work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, Canada, Europe, China, India, and Latin America, NRDC is working to secure strong climate agreements that will set in motion concrete commitments and immediate actions by key nations. We urge developed countries to come to the table with clear plans for how they will reduce carbon pollution while helping developing nations build more low-carbon and climate-resilient economies. And we work to ensure these pledges become reality.
In advance of the 2015 U.N. climate change conference in Paris, we urged the Obama administration to make a bold commitment to reduce carbon pollution and demonstrate how the nation could achieve those goals. Our experts also provided research showing that China could make deep reductions as well. In 2014, not only did the Obama administration announce that the United States would cut carbon pollution 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025, but China also pledged to stop the growth of its carbon pollution by around 2030. These concrete commitments from the world's two largest polluters build momentum for action around the globe. We are helping turn these commitments into effective and sustained action on the ground.
We are working to help mobilize a groundswell of climate action by governors, mayors, corporations, financial institutions, and leaders of all stripes. We help build the frameworks to hold them accountable, making sure they deliver over time and ensuring that our shared efforts add up to climate stability.
NRDC is also working to secure a global agreement to phase down the emissions of hydrofluorocarbons, which are "super" greenhouse gas emissions that are used in our air conditioners and refrigerators. We have been at the forefront of efforts under the Montreal Protocol since the world first tackled the ozone hole, and we are now focused on ensuring that replacement chemicals have less damage on the climate.