In case you missed it, on Tuesday, a coalition of 20 environmental and public health organizations, including the League of Conservation Voters (LCV), sent a letter to Congress calling on members to pass the “Climate Test,” by putting the country on a clear path to cutting in half planet-warming pollution by 2030. The recent devastation our country has seen from extreme weather and wildfires exacerbated by the climate crisis shows that we cannot wait to act on climate action. Congress has a once in a generation opportunity to pass the Climate Test and make transformational investments in our nation’s infrastructure with the Build Back Better Act by creating new clean energy tax incentives, transforming our power sector to achieve 100% clean electricity and investing in communities of color and communities of low wealth who are too often on the front lines of the climate crisis. 

Read the full letter HERE and see the full press release here and below.

LCV Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Tiernan Sittenfeld stated in a recent interview with CNN, “Failure is not an option to get this done. We’re doing everything we possibly can. We’re having conversations regularly with all Senate offices, all members of Congress.”

RELEASE: 20 Groups Call on Congress To Pass the ‘Climate Test’

Date: September 7, 2021
Contact: Sam Hananel
Email: ‮g​r​o​.​s​s​e​r​g​o​r​p​n​a​c​i​r​e​m​a​@​l​e​n​a​n​a​h​s‭

Washington, D.C. — Today, 20 national environmental, public health, and climate advocacy organizations called on Congress to pass the “Climate Test” by putting the country on a clear path to cutting in half planet-warming pollution by 2030.

The message to Congress clearly lays out the investments that must be included to achieve this science-backed goal, while also creating good-paying jobs, reducing costs for families, and building a more equitable clean energy economy. Anything less doesn’t pass the test.

“The climate investments included in the Build Back Better Act put us on a clear path to cut climate pollution in half by 2030 by creating new clean energy tax incentives, transforming our power sector to achieve 100% clean electricity and investing in communities too often left behind,” the letter reads. “Anything less fails the Climate Test that science and this moment demand. If we don’t act now, communities will face even more devastating and extreme droughts, fires, hurricanes, flooding and storms.”

If Congress passes the Climate Test, it would “create millions of good-paying, clean energy jobs that American workers can raise their families on and that keep their children and grandchildren safe from climate change.” The letter outlines the key categories of investments—including funding levels and associated predicted emissions reductions—that are critical to slashing emissions in half by 2030.

The letter is signed by Black Millennials for Flint, the Center for American Progress, the CLEO Institute, the Climate Action Campaign, Climate Power, the Climate Reality Project, Earthjustice, the Environmental Defense Fund, Evergreen Action, Generation Progress, Interfaith Power & Light, the League of Conservation Voters, the National Audubon Society, the National Hispanic Medical Association, the National Wildlife Federation, the Natural Resources Defense Council, NextGen America, Poder Latinx, the Sierra Club, and the Wilderness Society.

Read the letter here.

For more information or to speak with an expert, please contact Sam Hananel at ‮g​r​o​.​s​s​e​r​g​o​r​p​n​a​c​i​r​e​m​a​@​l​e​n​a​n​a​h​s‭ or Jason Phelps at ‮s​u​.​r​e​w​o​p​e​t​a​m​i​l​c​@​n​o​s​a​j‭.