Ed Markey — Senator Markey Speaks with Todd D. Stern

Thank You mr. chairman very much uh mr. stern um did the United States join the UN framework convention on climate change in 1992 after the Senate ratified that treaty yes senator are you negotiating this agreement under that framework we are senator explicitly so huh so there is an existing treaty you're negotiating unto that treaty which is an authority which Congress gave to you and and I just think we should make that clear you're not in violation of any historical precedence I mean it's it's something that we want you to do and it's something that the Congress passed this Foreign Relations Committee had to pass it first now what I hear in the in the voice of those who object to this agreement is this that we may not meet those goals and of course that's a very pessimistic way of viewing what is unfolding here in the United States we're going to pledge that we will reduce our greenhouse gases by 26 to 28 percent by the year twenty twenty-five we're on pace right now to reduce our greenhouse gases by seventeen percent by the year twenty twenty so we're well on our way towards this goal of 26 to 28 percent now the hypothesis that the Chairman is making is that you can't rely upon Congress or you can't rely upon America to uphold its commitment so to the extent to which the president has propounded a new law the clean power plant rule that will reduce greenhouse gases by thirty two percent by the year twenty thirty in our utility sector there's no question that the Chairman and others in the Senate in the house they can try to overturn that but right now it's the law of the United States and the president is making a commitment based upon that law it's on the books secondly the president propounded a new fuel economy standard for the vehicles which we drive which hits 50 4.5 miles per gallon by the year twenty twenty-five it's the law in the United States now it's not going to stop members of this panel on the Senate for trying to overturn the law but the president is making this commitment to the world based upon the law we only installed 70 megawatts of solar in the United States in 2005 last year we installed seven thousand megawatts not 70 in between 2015 and 2016 we're going to install 20,000 new megawatts of solar the price is collapsing the same thing is true for wind and so what we now have is six percent of all electricity coming from wind and solar in the United States in 2005 it was one percent we keep on this pathway and we keep the state renewable electricity standards on the books we keep the tax breaks on the books as law will be at fifteen to twenty percent renewable electricity by the year twenty twenty-five unless people work hard to repeal the law that the president is operating under so the chairman is right there is always within a constitutional system and ability to try to overturn what is existing law but there's nothing the president is doing which is not consistent with the law which we have and if those laws stay on the books this goal will be met so there are climate deniers there are those that obviously don't want to see this goal met that would be principally the fossil fuel industry but under existing laws the president's making a commitment which is completely in total achievable and legal now I think it's interesting for us to then move to what's the assessment which the Chinese so the Indians have made with regard to this commitment made by the United States so it's my understanding that two weeks ago three weeks ago when the Chinese President was in town that he committed to installing as not as much clean energy renewable energy by the year twenty thirty as all of the existing electricity capacity in the United States today combined now that's a response and then in turn the Indians then had to respond to the United States and China and they made a very huge commitment can you talk about that and the impact which the United States is having as the leader in showing that you can do it in terms of the unleashing of new technology around the world especially in those countries that historically people were most concerned about that weren't in fact meeting their obligations countries like China and India and others thank you very much senator and again thank you very much for your historic leadership on this issue known you for a long time and it's been tremendously impressive the u.s.

role what the president has been has been leaving this administration on has had tremendous impact I think with respect to to other countries and China the the agreement that uses that you cited actually dates dates to the joint announcement from from last year and then again reaffirmed and extended by the joint statement this year hugely important in India Prime Minister Modi has has made a pledge for a hundred and seventy-two bill 175 gigawatts of renewable energy that's gargantuan amount for India and to do it by 2020 200 from solar 60 from wind and 15 from other renewable sources so a tremendous amount again I think very much to put in another way that would be equal to the entire installed nuclear energy capacity in the United States today and they're going to do that in renewables right and I think that you see I think that you seek countries whether it's Brazil or Mexico or others also inspired by by what the United States is doing so I think it's had a very very very important impact thank you and I just want to thank you your work is going to go down in history Paris's I think on track to be a big success and much of it is due to the incredible skill and leadership that you brought to it thank you