Fred Krupp, President, Environmental Defense Fund:
John, I’ve been at this for a long time. And in my 30 plus years of doing this work, I don’t think we’ve ever had as good a day for the climate as we had today.
First, we had the U.S. EPA announcing the strongest methane rules for the oil and gas sector on the planet. Second, we had 50 companies representing 40 percent of global oil production, pledging to virtually eliminate their methane pollution. And then third, we saw an announcement from the U.S. and China that they’ve agreed to incorporate methane in the future into their pledges internationally.
And methane, John, is 80 times more powerful as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide pound for pound in those first 20 years. And so reductions now that will happen as a result of these three actions mean that storms will be less ferocious temperatures will be lower than they would otherwise be over the next 10 years. Thanks to the actions that were pledged today.
