Sorry?that?s not how it works As of last June, 402 U.S. mayors have joined the Mayors National Climate Action Agenda, a group also known as the Climate Mayors, which was formed when the U.S. pulled out of the Paris climate accord.
These mayors pledged to uphold the climate agreement, which was established to try and limit the rise of global average temperatures to 2.0 degrees Celsius?and aim for even more progressive targets.
Yet nine months later, this coalition of mayors, which represents 69 million Americans across 47 states, is still not doing enough to address the elephant in the atmosphere: the inextricable link between our cars and climate change.
?We will intensify efforts to meet each of our cities? current climate goals, push for new action to meet the 1.5-degrees-Celsius target, and work together to create the 21st-century clean energy economy,? reads the widely-shared statement from the Climate Mayors last June. ?The world cannot wait?and neither will we.? The urgency of that statement has become more clear in 2018. Scientists report the commitments of the almost 200 countries that signed the Paris agreement are not proving effective. Global emissions have started to rise again after remaining flat for three years.
?It?s not fast enough. It?s not big enough,? Corinne Le Quéré, director of the Tyndall Center for Climate Change Research told the Washington Post. ?There?s not enough action.?
In the U.S.?which is historically the largest carbon polluter in ...