Saving generation Delta: How solutions to the global climate crisis are still within reach 

As the world braces for the upcoming 2023 United Nations (U.N.) Climate Change Conference (COP 28) in Dubai, U.S. policymakers at all levels of government have a chance to prioritize, once more, the urgency to act on climate.  

The U.N.’s highly-anticipated “Global Stocktake” report — detailing global progress to combat temperature changes before the Earth reaches the point of no return — noted that our best hope to avoid permanent climate catastrophe is to drastically cut greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2030. Unfortunately, this is a scientific fact that many of my House Republican colleagues who are slated to attend COP28 have chosen to ignore.

As background, the global scientific community is in near-universal agreement that once the world reaches 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit of global heating, climate change will become permanent, destabilizing the entire planet. Worse yet, according to the U.N.’s recent report, the world has already experienced 2.0 degrees of increased heating as of 2023, with no clear signs of this trend reversing. The numerous extreme weather events that the world has experienced in 2023 alone are an unfortunate testament to this fact. Whether it be this year’s wildfires in Hawaii and Canada, the occurrence of the single hottest summer ever recorded in the United States, China, Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East, or this November’s heavy flooding in Dubai — the very location of the upcoming COP28 Conference — the effects of climate change have proved inescapable in 2023.  

While the chance to save our planet is disappearing, it is not gone yet. Last year, my congressional colleagues and I took an important first step towards addressing our climate reality by passing important climate provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act. The Inflation Reduction Act includes $369 billion in funding to tackle climate change and brings America closer to Biden’s goal of cutting climate pollution in half from 2005 levels by 2030. However, to maintain a livable planet for our children, Congress will need to be much, much bolder. 

For this mission, I have introduced the “Earth Act to Stop Climate Pollution by 2030” (H.R. 598)—also known as “the Earth Bill”—which, according to the climate experts at RegenIntel, is the only bill currently in circulation in Congress that has the certainty and scientific backing to meet the U.N.’s emissions reduction goals. 

It is high time for Congress to rise up and tell the mega-polluting corporations of the world not to pollute while strengthening America’s working communities by supporting good-paying union jobs in renewable energy sectors. In doing so, the Earth Act aims to provide one last lifeline for our planet. 

The Earth Act would lead our nation’s transition to a green future by requiring 100 percent renewable electricity, 100 percent zero-emission vehicles, and increased climate-smart agriculture practices in the U.S. by the year 2030 — creating a global standard for domestic climate legislation for our allies to follow. 

As noted by the EPA, the three sectors this bill focuses on — electricity, cars and agriculture — represent the three largest sectors for fossil fuel emissions in the U.S. If we innovate operations within these three industries, we will win the war against global heating. It really is that simple. 

First, my Earth Act works by requiring utility companies to change to 100 percent clean and healthy inputs in making our electricity by 2030 — that is, with solar, wind, geothermal, tidal and waterpower — instead of fossil fuels. Next, my bill requires that U.S. car manufacturers make exclusively electric vehicles by 2030, as countless studies show that the transportation sector — led by cars and trucks — generates more greenhouse gases annually than any other economic sector in the U.S.  

Lastly, because damaged soil releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, agriculture ends up accounting for nearly 11 percent of all annual pollution in the U.S. In turn, my bill would require all publicly traded agriculture corporations to significantly increase the number of “regenerative agriculture” practices that they use on their farms by the year 2030 — practices which not only reduce soil emissions but also restore soil, making them cheaper and more profitable for farmers. 

These three industries would also not be making this transition alone, as the Earth Act would create grant programs to cover up to 50 percent of all transition costs associated with shifting to renewable electricity, zero-emission vehicles, and regenerative agriculture — all while doubling the tax incentives associated with transitioning to these practices. 

A recent 2022 poll and in-depth study from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication found that a “supermajority” of 66–80 percent of Americans support these climate policies. It is high time for Congress to recognize this reality and act accordingly. 

On the heels of the upcoming U.N. Climate Change Conference (“COP 28”), which will run from Nov. 30 through Dec. 12, the United States’ promises to the world on climate action will continue to mean little without more aggressive action from Congress. Now more than ever, Congress needs to follow the science and act commensurately with the actual will of the people on climate issues, lest we risk losing the respect of the international community even further.  

As an attendee of both COP 26 and COP 27, I can say with full confidence that our global allies are eager to work with America to achieve bold, decisive action on climate change.  

Meaningful climate legislation like the Earth Act offers us this one last chance to set aside partisan politics, and instead come together to actually move the needle on climate change for the sake of Generation Alpha, Generation Beta, and Generation Gamma. Otherwise, there may be no generation of the future beyond. 

Adriano Espaillat represents New York’s 13th District.