Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Mitigation Report

Once again, the scientific community has delivered an urgent call to action for our planet. The new report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is ominous, but it makes clear that limiting global warming and avoiding the worst case scenarios of the climate crisis remains possible if we rapidly reduce global emissions this decade. Critically, the IPCC shows that we already have all the options we need—in every sector—to cut global emissions in half by 2030.

This is no longer a distant challenge for future generations. Climate change is here and we are already seeing its effects every day, as rising temperatures and sea levels lead to increased water and food scarcity and more frequent and intense climate-related disasters. These impacts will only intensify without significant efforts to bend the curve on global emissions.

At the same time, we are witnessing how overreliance on the same fossil fuels that caused the climate crisis are a threat to our collective security. Revenue from oil and gas continues to empower, enrich, and embolden Vladimir Putin and the Russian Federation in their unprovoked and brutal war in Ukraine. As the IPCC report finds, investments today in emissions-intensive infrastructure and fossil fuel use become the barriers of tomorrow. Now more than ever, transitioning away from fossil fuels to clean, reliable, renewable energy is not only essential for mitigating climate change and supporting sustainable development, but crucial for building a safer world.

As part of our new Climate Strategy, which will be released later this month, USAID will ramp up support to our partners to transition away from fossil fuels to locally available, renewable energy. These efforts are essential for limiting global warming, building prosperity and resilience, and strengthening our own national security and the security of our allies.

Supporting the renewable energy transition is just one piece of our broader efforts to tackle the climate crisis. Our Climate Strategy calls on all corners of USAID to play a part in our efforts to build low-to-no emission development pathways while making the most vulnerable and marginalized communities more resilient to climate impacts. This includes conserving tropical forests and other critical carbon stocks and sinks, making key systems like agriculture and transportation more sustainable and less emissions-intensive, and supporting communities to better adapt to the climate impacts already wreaking havoc across the globe.

I want to thank the scientists and researchers around the world who help us understand the urgency of the climate crisis, including those from USAID who participated in peer-reviewing this report. Thanks to these collaborative reports, we know ambitious climate change mitigation is crucial to achieve sustained and climate-resilient development goals. Serious climate progress will not happen overnight, but USAID will continue to make strides to prioritize the health and livelihoods of communities and the planet.