Senator Chris Coons is part of a bipartisan delegation in Glasgow, Scotland this weekend for the UN Climate Change Conference.
President Biden already visited at the international climate change conference, known as COP 26, negotiating new agreements with countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
U.S. Senators are now in Scotland to discuss the importance of bipartisan action on climate change.
Coons says this is the first time a bipartisan group of senators is joining the conference and having two Republicans along with ten Democrats demonstrates a shift in thinking on climate change policy.
“This time we will have one cohesive delegation sending a positive message that in the United States we recognize the climate is changing, that human activity is contributing to it and we have to take decisive measures to address it,” says Coons.
Coons chairs the bipartisan Senate Climate Solutions Caucus, formed in 2019 to work collaboratively on issues.
He adds agreements to reduce methane emissions by 30 percent and end deforestation by the end of the decade are some of the strongest pieces to come from this summit.
Coons says the federal government can help drive change, but often it’s up to the states to take action.
“Even during the four years when we had a president who said climate change is a hoax and withdrew the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement — we had cities and states all over our country who were continuing to take action,” Coons says.
Delaware is one of those states, joining the U.S. Climate Alliance back in 2017, a group of 24 states and two territories committed to upholding their objectives from the Paris Climate Agreement.
Gov. John Carney also announced a new Climate Action Plan this week, which brings the state’s various climate change projects into one place — and outlines plans to reduce emissions and maximize resiliency.
The Senate delegation speaks at the conference at 1pm Eastern Saturday about the need for bipartisan solutions to climate change.
Roman Battaglia is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms.
