Statement from 1Sky Campaign Director Liz Butler on Obama Administration and Cancun Climate Talks

The following is a statement from 1Sky Campaign Director Liz Butler on the Obama administration's role at the U.N. climate talks in Cancun, Mexico:

"1Sky is disappointed by the lack of leadership shown by the Obama administration. Despite overwhelming public support for reducing global warming pollution and transitioning to a clean energy economy, the U.S. consistently slowed progress in Cancun and negotiated down to the lowest common denominator before finally shifting course and allowing an agreement to go forward. We are glad that the U.S. has joined the rest of the world in moving forward in Cancun.

"This dynamic is unacceptable. The U.S. needs to be a leader in providing climate solutions at home and abroad – not obstructing global movement toward those solutions. We call on President Obama to stand up and be the leader the world needs to solve the climate crisis, and to put all who will be impacted by the climate crisis above the politics of the moment.

"We reiterate our call for President Obama to follow through on his commitment in Copenhagen a year ago to help mobilize $100 billion a year in international climate finance by 2020. We are encouraged by agreement in Cancun to establish a global climate fund, but that the U.S. initially held up this fund as a bargaining chip – gambling with the lives and livelihoods of millions of people – is unconscionable. Poor countries desperately need resources to adapt to climate change and transition to clean energy, and as the world's largest historical emitter of greenhouse gas emissions, the U.S. cannot shirk its responsibility on this front.

“In the wake of the U.S. Senate's inaction on climate this year, we cannot afford further inaction from the Obama administration. Science tells us that steep cuts in carbon emissions of at least 25-40% below 1990 levels are necessary to avert the worst impacts of climate change. The U.S. has yet to provide even a roadmap for achieving its paltry stated commitment of reducing emissions 17% below 2005 levels by 2020 - a cut of just 3-4% below 1990 levels. We need real leadership to rise to the scale of the challenges before us."