IPCC Report Makes Case for Clean Energy Economy

Today, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) -- a Nobel Peace Prize-winning organization comprised of the world's foremost climate scientists -- released the final component of its Fifth Assessment Report, the Synthesis Report. The report compiles findings on all aspects of the climate crisis, laying out the case for immediate action to protect the health of communities, governments, and economies around the globe while noting that only significant and concerted action will prevent "severe, widespread, irreversible impacts."

In response, Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune released the following statement:

"This landmark report makes it absolutely clear: we must rapidly transition to a clean energy economy free from dirty fossil fuels, and we must do it now. In the starkest terms ever used, the scientific community is looking world leaders directly in the eye and demanding that they wake up. To fight global poverty, sustain stable governments and societies, and maintain a livable planet, all findings indicate that we should kick fossil fuels to the curb. The silver lining to the report is that it recognizes clean energy climate solutions are affordable and ready to deploy.

"We do not need any more reports - we need action. We don't have any more time to coddle fossil fuel billionaires or politicians who will eschew responsibility at every corner. That's what the 400,000 people who marched in September demanded and that is what the scientific community is again confirming. The stakes for negotiations in Lima and Paris are now obvious, and the table is set for world leaders to take significant, immediate action to avert catastrophe. The alarm bells ringing from the streets of New York to the halls of the U.N. are too loud to sleep through, and time is of the essence."