Download Promoting Change and a Climate of Innovation

Promoting Change and a Climate of Innovation
SUPPORT A CLEAN ENERGY ECONOMY TO ADDRESS CLIMATE CHANGE
Climate change is one of the world’s most urgent challenges and presents an immediate risk to
our communities, economies, and to our natural treasures. We must act now -- as individuals,
as business leaders, and as policymakers. We promote practical, innovative solutions to create a
prosperous, low-carbon future that is cleaner, healthier, and more secure for everyone.
The Challenge
Reducing emissions of greenhouse gas pollutants is critical to addressing the risks posed by climate
change. Many Americans already see the effects climate change is having on our planet and our
communities in the form of sea level rise, more frequent extreme storms, and degraded natural resources.
And, alongside these impacts, the fact remains that the best solution – developing a clean energy
economy – is one worth pursuing on its own merits.
America’s greatness resides in no small part in its ability to meet big challenges with ingenuity
and application of market forces. We are at a critical moment in the evolution of America’s energy
infrastructure where we can seize the opportunities created by innovation to advance cleaner, more
reliable energy.
The Nature Conservancy is working to
broaden the diversity of support for clean
energy, energy efficiency, and emissions
reductions. We are also supporting actions at
the state level to demonstrate the success of
policies and practices that promote a lowcarbon future.
We have the challenge and the
opportunity right here, right now,
to reinvent how America fuels,
generates, transports and uses its
electric power
The Nature Conservancy Commits to a Climate of Innovation
We are at a transformational moment, when the energy and power sectors are undergoing reinvention.
These profound changes enable us to substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions at relatively low
cost while also increasing energy reliability and consumer choice.
As one of the largest environmental organizations with a presence in all 50 states, The Nature
Conservancy is already working at the state level to promote reductions of greenhouse gas emissions
and a prosperous, low carbon future through a variety of approaches, including outreach and education,
policy engagement, and nature-based climate solutions. In keeping with our deep roots in locally-based
action, each of our 50 state chapters is committed to work towards a low-carbon future using the tools
and approaches best suited to its individual circumstances.
We’re also committed to highlighting the
opportunities available to use innovation and
market forces to make the changes necessary
to bring about a clean energy future. Innovative
policy choices and technology advances can
modernize the electricity marketplace. Rooftop
solar energy, automated appliance responses
to electricity price changes, retail bundling of
home energy management—these and other
unforeseen innovations could bring us cleaner
and more efficient energy use.
The Nature Conservancy’s work has always
been informed by science, as demonstrated
by the 700 scientists that staff our chapters.
We believe that the best available science
shows that climate change will soon be the
most important threat to our mission. By 2040
more than 40 percent of the loss in species
populations globally will be caused by climate
change. Atmospheric concentrations of carbon
pollution are now more than 40 percent above
their pre-industrial levels and higher than they
have been for hundreds of thousands of years.
The Nature Conservancy is standing up -- and standing ready – to find the right policies based on shared
principles to move us towards a “climate of innovation” around reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Americans Want Action
A majority of Americans want climate solutions. In a recent poll this spring, 63% of Americans (across
the political spectrum) concurred that climate change is happening, and 59% of Americans believe that
Congress should do more to address it.1
Two out of three Americans think that developing clean sources of energy should be a high priority
for Congress. A startling 83% percent of Americans believe that the U.S. should act to address global
warming even if it has economic costs.
1
All data from “Climate Change in the American Mind,” April 2015, from the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication and George
Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication.
Contact: Melissa Carey, The Nature Conservancy, [email protected] (703) 841-8185
The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to
protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. Visit us at nature.org.
9/28/15