WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s new report on the widespread loss and damages communities and wildlife are already facing due to the climate crisis is a clarion call for urgent and meaningful action. 

“Our fate as humans and that of every animal, plant, and ecosystem on the planet are interconnected and face an imminent and existential threat from human-caused climate disruption. This report — and each that preceded it from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change — highlight that the worst-case severity of this escalating crisis is not inevitable, and that emissions reductions through both technology and the restoration of natural infrastructure will help people and wildlife survive and thrive, provided we act now,” said Collin O’Mara, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation. “To ensure a sustainable future, we must ensure that the historic investments investments in climate action secured by Congress and Biden Administration last year result in significant emission reductions, while bolstering our resilience. We must build upon this momentum by taking further actions that prioritize the health of people and wildlife alike to reverse the course of the climate crisis.”

The National Wildlife Federation highlighted action that would address the causes and impacts of the climate crisis while building toward a safer and more equitable clean energy future, including:  

• Sequestering carbon, improving water quality, protecting wildlife, and revitalizing economically-depressed communities through the restoration and conservation of working and degraded lands.
• Reducing carbon dioxide, methane, particulate matter, and other toxic pollution through robust federal action and transitioning to cleaner energy sources.
• Delivering significant emissions reductions in the fossil fuel and industrial sectors by advancing carbon removal, capture and reuse, and sequestration technologies.
• Improving climate-informed stewardship and conservation of public lands and working lands.
• Curtailing and reversing loss and degradation of carbon-dense ecosystems around the world, such as deforestation due to commodity production. 
• Advancing equitable and wildlife-protective development of clean energy, including offshore wind, and grid infrastructure.
• Facilitating financing for and enhancing understanding and adoption of nature-based strategies to improve climate resilience and environmental justice, particularly in marginalized, climate-vulnerable communities.