Climate migration is our new reality and new responsibility

The U.S. is now experiencing, on average, a billion-dollar extreme weather event every three weeks — up considerably from one every four months in the 1980s. 

In 2023, the city of Phoenix experienced temperatures above 110 degrees for 54 consecutive days. The devastating wildfire in Maui was the country’s deadliest in modern history. Vermont experienced its worst floods in nearly a century. And last summer, New York topped the list of the world’s cities with the worst air pollution, caused by smoke from wildfires in Canada. 

All across the United States and the world, many of us are coming to understand that more extreme weather means we may need to move out of our homes and communities to find safety. 

In a recent survey by Forbes, nearly a third of Americans cited climate change as a reason for moving. In fact, 3.2 million U.S. adults were displaced or evacuated due to a disaster in 2022, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Moving is a way many of us will adapt to a changing climate.

As we close out the hottest year on record rife with climate chaos, all eyes are on the U.S. and leaders of other industrialized nations to see if 2024 will finally be the year they step up to tackle the climate crisis. We must act with urgency to transition away from fossil fuels in a just way that protects workers and communities and builds global resilience to adapt to these increasingly frequent and severe climate disasters. A critical part of adaptation is creating safe, orderly and generous migration pathways for people displaced by climate chaos.

One of us knows personally how migration can be a life-saving solution. In the 1980s, Ethiopia experienced a historic famine — a deadly mix of drought and war. As droughts persisted and food and other resources became scarce, existing conflict and repression accelerated. He remembers seeing people murdered in the streets by the government. That’s when he knew he had to find a way to get out. He was just 15 years old when he was forced to flee his home, became a refugee, and eventually, resettled in the United States.

Today, the Horn of Africa — including Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya — is experiencing years of failed rainy seasons and the worst drought conditions on record. As was the case when one of us fled his home country, extreme climate impacts can interact with existing vulnerabilities, like economic instability and fuel conflict, exacerbating the reasons why people must move to safety. 

Droughts are just one of the many climate impacts that are increasingly fueling migration. More familiar are the stories of displacement after extreme weather events, like the historic flooding in Pakistan in 2022 that submerged a third of the country under water. Or the two back-to-back hurricanes that devastated Central American countries in 2020. 

As climate change accelerates, this will be the experience of so many others worldwide — displaced and forced to move to find safety somewhere else. As is true in the United States, most people displaced by climate change will move within their own countries, and some will return home eventually, but many will need to move more permanently and cross borders to find safety. 

Our immigration policies do not reflect this new reality. The climate-displaced lack formal protection under U.S. or international law, leaving them with few protections and little support. 

The majority of Americans believe that Congress must do more to address climate change and support climate solutions across the spectrum — from transitioning to renewable energy like wind and solar to making our communities more resilient to climate impacts through infrastructure investments. But, just like investments in renewable energy or resilient infrastructure, we must see new migration pathways as a solution that our leaders must prepare for and support. 

In late 2023, Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.) reintroduced the Climate Displaced Persons Act – a framework for the kind of climate solutions this moment requires. The legislation welcomes the shared responsibility of addressing climate displacement, through both opening up space in the U.S. for climate-displaced people and investing in global climate resilience. 

The bill invests in a whole of government approach to boost global climate resilience, helping people stay safely in their homes and communities. Notably, it creates a new coordinator for global climate change resilience and directs the creation of a 10-year Global Climate Change Resilience Strategy. It also creates a new legal migration pathway for at least 100,000 people annually to migrate safely and with dignity to the U.S. when it is no longer possible for them to stay where they are. 

While nowhere is spared from climate change’s impacts, countries in the Global South contributed least to the climate crisis, and are where the worst effects are felt. The United States, responsible for around 20 percent of all historic carbon emissions, bears a disproportionate responsibility to address the crisis.

As we enter what is sure to be another unprecedented year of extreme weather events and slow-onset impacts of our changing climate, our country must do everything we can to end fossil fuels, cut carbon emissions and slow global warming while doing our part to help communities here in the U.S. and across the world adapt to a climate disrupted world — including through resilience investments and safe migration pathways.

From the coasts of Louisiana to the wildfire-prone communities in California; from the dry corridor in Central America to the vanishing coastlines of Bangladesh — migration is an essential way we will adapt to the climate crisis. We have the resources, capacity and responsibility to make sure that all of us can stay safe from the worst impacts of climate change. 

Congress and the White House must act now to pass the Climate Displaced Persons Act and take this crucial step toward creating a safe and resilient future for all of us.

Tefere Gebre is the chief program officer at Greenpeace USA. Nicole Melaku is the executive director of the National Partnership for New Americans.