December, 17 2009, 10:17am EDT
For Immediate Release
Center for Biological Diversity Statement on Secretary Clinton's Speech
COPENHAGEN, Denmark
Today in Copenhagen, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced U.S. support for $100 billion in funding per year by 2020 to help the developing world adapt to the impacts of global warming. The Obama administration has yet to propose domestic emissions reduction targets anywhere close to the 40 percent below 1990 levels that scientists say are required to avert the worst impacts of global warming.
Kassie Siegel, director of the Climate Law Institute of the Center for Biological Diversity, had the following response to Secretary Clinton's announcement:
"The United States may finally have pledged to help pay for more lifeboats, but without committing to meaningful emissions reductions, President Obama is still steering the Titanic directly toward the iceberg."
At the Center for Biological Diversity, we believe that the welfare of human beings is deeply linked to nature — to the existence in our world of a vast diversity of wild animals and plants. Because diversity has intrinsic value, and because its loss impoverishes society, we work to secure a future for all species, great and small, hovering on the brink of extinction. We do so through science, law and creative media, with a focus on protecting the lands, waters and climate that species need to survive.
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