December 19th, 2024
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact
Cara Cook, MS, RN, AHN-BC
Deputy Director
Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments
cara@envirn.org
585-469-2383
United States Nationally Determined Contribution Falls Short of Ambition Needed to Adequately Protect Health from Climate Change
[Washington, D.C] – Today, the Biden Administration released the United States’ latest National Determined Contribution. Under the Paris Agreement, countries are required to submit a Nationally Determined Contribution, plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to help meet the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 °C, every 5 years. The NDC released today, puts forth a target to reduce United States emissions by 61 to 66 percent by 2035, relative to 2005 levels and a methane reduction of at least 35 percent in 2035. The Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments’ Executive Director, Katie Huffling, DNP, RN, CNM, FAAN issued the following statement:
“Nurses thank the Biden administration for releasing the NDC before leaving office, a critical step to setting the stage for ambitious subnational action to address the climate emergency. While this NDC framework shows increasing ambition from the previous, unfortunately, the targets outlined fall short. Nurses around the world are caring for those and are part of communities most impacted by climate change – we are seeing the human impacts that result from the failure of leaders to act at the scale required. The Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments, aligned with science and climate justice groups, were calling for a greenhouse gas emissions reduction target of 80% from 2005 levels by 2035, as a pathway for adequately protecting health in the face of worsening climate change.
“It is a step forward that the NDC includes language on a transition from fossil fuels, yet it stops short from providing a pathway to phasing out fossil fuels. Further, the NDC relies on unjust and dirty energy, such as carbon capture and storage and nuclear energy, to meet emissions reduction. These are false solutions that significantly harm the health of communities.
“This was an opportunity to signal to subnational governments and the world the scale of ambitious action needed to accomplish the target goal of 1.5. Nurses are now calling on subnational leaders to take up the mantle and increase ambition beyond what is outlined in the latest US NDC and is in line with what the science calls for. Our lives depend on it.”
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The Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments is the only national nursing organization focused solely on the intersection of health and the environment. The mission of the Alliance is to promote healthy people and healthy environments by educating and leading the nursing profession, advancing research, incorporating evidence-based practice, and influencing policy.
