it is clear from venezuela to iraq to the ukraine there is no shortage of energy challenges of the world today we have had many conversations their brussels with the energy segment where we laid out the agenda how to liberate these countries from the one country dependency does huge strategic importance. but at the top of the list is climate change the why the very first hosted by the center is so very important and i am delighted to be here and part of that.

going back to earth day as the first thing i would organize with citizens started to make a solid statement in this country and this was the for we had the clean water act or safe drinking water or marine mammal protection act. in all came out of the citizen movement. with the reason now is simple. for decades the science has been screaming morning as trying to compel us to act. digest 12 underscore that's it may seem obvious to you but not to some. sciences is and has long been crystal clear with climate change. for group of us first

organized hearings in the senate in 1988 were they said it is happening now. so we're not talking about news reports or applaud post or speech that a cabinet secretary may give with a think tank. but if fact based evidence supported peer review science. if you listen to some people in washington you think there is a question whether climate change really is a problem if we really need to respond. to stop and think about the basics. when apple falls from the tree will drop toward the ground. we know that because of the basic laws of physics. science tells us gravity exist in the one disputes that. it also tells us when the

water temperature drops below 32 degrees the turns to ice and no one disputes that. so when science tells us the climate is changing in human beings are largely causing the change what right do people say i dispute that or deny that? but yet there are those who do so. literally a couple days ago state officials are trying to use bin the german climate change in public documents because they're not willing to face the fact we literally do not have the time to waste to a debate if we can say climate change and how we solve it. no matter how many people want to bury their head in the sand will not alter the fact that 97 percent of peer

review:the studies confirmed that climate change is happening and human activity is largely responsible. i have been involved with public policy debates over 40 years since the '60s. it is rare, rare, rare i can tell you to get a super majority of studies to agree on anything. but 97 percent over 20 years? that is a dramatic statement of fact that no one in good conscience has a right to ignore. but what it's really troubling is the same scientist are telling us what will happen not just to be there but what is coming at us. they also agree if we

continue to march like robots down the path we're on the world will be transformed dramatically for the worse the sea levels will continue to rise to dangerous levels and nations moved as a consequence. we will see a large swath of cities under water we could expect more intense than frequent extreme weather events and attractions two global agricultural sector to threaten job security for millions of farmers to undermine food security for millions of families. if with resources shortages of have the potential to fan the flames of conflict in areas there already troubled by longstanding ideological sectarian disputes imagine

when complicated by absence of water or food? these are the consequences of climate change and this is the magnitude of what we're up against national -- measured against the threats of today terrorism, extremism, of challenges the respect that climate change belongs on the same list. indeed it is one of the biggest threats facing our planet today and even top military personnel have designated it as a security threat not just to the united states but to the world. no one was truly looked at the science of national security experts would reach a different conclusion. yes.

this is personal to me. but it should be personal to everybody. man woman child business person student grandparent wherever we live forever our calling more personal background this affects everyone on the planet. in of any challenge requires global cooperation and urgent action "this is it". make no mistake it is a critical year. that is why it is so important. science tells us we still have a window of time to prevent the worst impact of climate change prodigious closing quickly already we're looking at mitigation in december the world will come together at the climate

conference in paris we will see if we can muster the political will to reach an ambitious comprehensive agreement. even those of us there most involved with the negotiations we understand the agreement we tried to reach in paris will not completely eliminate the threat. but it is a vital for step in to break through demonstration to countries around the globe to recognize the problem for each of us to contribute to a solution and set the market moving and change attitudes and governments. then no one can measure that exponential of what that will produce. we have nine short months to come together around an

agreement to put this on the right path. rest assured not a threat if we fail future generations would not and should not forgive those who do ignore this moment no matter the reasoning. future generations will judge our effort not as a policy failure but as a collective moral failure with historic consequence they will want to know how we could have possibly been so blind blind, eric, ideological dy sfunctional. frankly so stubborn that we fail to act on knowledge that was confirmed by so many scientists with so many studies over such a long period of time documented by such evidence. the truth is you will have no excuse.

you don't need to be a scientist to see the world has already changed to feel the impact of copal climate change in many of the things i mentioned a moment ago are already beginning to unfold before our eyes. just look around 14 of 15 warmest years on record in all of history have occurred since the year 2000 last year was the warmest of paul and if you think about it it seems every next year becomes the hottest on record. then that comes the altered environment. it is not complicated but think about life on earth would not exist without the greenhouse effect. does what has kept the average temperature and

57 degrees fahrenheit it does with this supposed to do it bounces off at a different angle to go back up and it warns things a very simple proposition. it is difficult to tell one specific storm or drought is so the closet and -- caused by climate change but the growing number of extreme events scientist telesis a clear signal. southeastern brazil has been experiencing a crippling drought the worst seen in 80 years it is so dire to families or drilling to the basement floors in search of groundwater. and the historic routes followed by historic floods

in others. mulally has since of thousands of people stranded by rushing waters cut off by health care and thousands have been forced from their homes. this is happening now. not a future event will get california with 500 year drought is and buyers as a consequence ask any scientist who studies the movement of species they're going north. fish, everything is changing and it is happening before our eyes. that is the first reason for is no excuse for ignoring the problem. second public some of the challenges we face, this has a ready-made solutions.

it is not a mystery but stairs us in the face and is called energy policy. energy policy. that is the solution to climate change and with the right choices that the right speed you can prevent the worst effects of climate change from crippling us forever. if we make the switch to rigo will clean anergy economy a priority and think more creatively how we power the cars are key to our homes operate businesses come at least they'll have time to prevent the worst consequences of climate change. there really is as simple as that. but getting there is proving not to be that simple. so what do we need to do? to begin, leaders with the political courage to make

the tough but necessary policy choices to help us all find the right path. i am pleased to say and proud to serve with the president who has accepted the challenge to take it had on thinks to president of of this climate action planned united states is well on its way to meeting our international commitments to cut emissions by 2020 because we're going straight to the largest source of pollution with the missions for transportation, power sources which accounts with 60 percent of the dangerous greenhouse gases that we release and also smaller opportunities in every sector of the economy to redress every greenhouse gas for the president put in place standards to double the fuel efficiency of cars and trucks on roads ever foes regulations of new and

existing power plants but it is not enough for those that have dirty sources of energy but also cleaner alternatives. since obama took office united states does increased when production more than threefold increase older generation more than tenfold this is by far the most vicious the set of connections united states of america has and -- ever undertaken and a large part we are emitting less than we had in two decades also why we could read note -- announce reducing initiatives from 26 of that 20% to accomplish that by the year 2025. to put us squarely on the road with more sustainable economies the upper end

target enables us to cut emissions by 83 percent by midcentury which is what scientists say we need to do to prevent women from exceeding the threshold bubbles. but i cannot emphasize this enough. no single country not even the united states can solve this problem or foot the bill alone. that is not just rhetoric. physically impossible. think of it this way even if every single american would like to work or would carpool or using only solar power -- panels for planted a dozen trees eliminated all greenhouse gas emissions

that still would not be enough to offset the pollution from the rest of the world. it is the same is true with china but others continue with business as usual it is not enough to reduce emissions if neighbors are unwilling to do their share. so with a global solution i mean it. anything less will not work. course industrialized countries play a major role to bring about a clean energy future. the days of the industrial revolution obviously they benefited by developing and growing but they also created the basic template for this problem. but even if they stopped it does not solve the problem. it certainly is a signal they should not crispi --

repeat the mistakes of the past almost two-thirds of global emissions come from developing nations. it is imperative that they be part of the solution also. i want to make this clear in economic terms this is not a choice between bad and worse some people like to demagogue the issue that we cannot afford to do this we cannot afford not to in the economics will show you it is better in the long run and cheaper. it is not a choice between bad and worse. ultimately it is a choice between growing or shrinking and the economy or pursuing more efficient energy is the only way we can build the kind of economy that will thrive for decades to come.

coal and oil are only the chief ways to power a nation in the near term but further down the road you can see an entirely different story with the real numbers over time the cost of those outdated energy sources pile up quickly. with those economic impacts in-house scientists estimate the changing climate will cause yields of crops to fall by 2 percent every decade consider what that means for farmers around the world and the inflationary impact. now factor in how that exacerbates global challenges like the malnutrition rate over the face or the long-term health

related problems caused by dirty air like asthma. which predominantly affect children and already cost americans an estimated $50 billion in annual leave the greatest single cause of children being hospitalized over the summer is environmental induced asthma and that cost billions for. contributed to the death of 4.5 million every year no part of that is inexpensive per coordination and argues it cannot afford to invest in the alternative renewable energy needs to look at the sizable cost associated with rebuilding in the wake of devastating weather events. in 2012 alone extreme weather cost the united

states $120 billion. when the typhoon hit the philippines a year ago the cost of responding exceeded $10 billion. that is just the bill from the storm damage think of the added health care costs, expenses the result from agricultural and environmental degradation is time to do real cost accounting. we cannot only factor in the price of the immediate energy needs but include the long term cost of curbing pollution to factor in the cost of survival and we will find pursuing clean energy now is far more affordable to pay for the consequences later. but there is another piece of reality in these

arguments begin to compound and grow considerably. clean energy is not only the solution to climate change but the greatest economic opportunity of all time. if you want to put people to work this is the way to do with the global energy market of the future is poised to be the largest the has been ever known with the $6 trillion market today between four and 5 million users today. but will grow at 9 billion over the next two decades. the great driver of wealth creation in the 1990's when super billionaires' were created every income level of america went up that was the technology market in the

$1 trillion market was only 1 billion users just to give a sense of the possibility of an investment now will reach nearly $17 trillion. more than the entire jean-pierre china -- gdp of china and the magic of businesses are the jobs created in every corner of the global in the united states of america in the year 2015 does not have a national grid but a big keeping whole you cannot sell energy from a when farm in massachusetts or minnesota to another part of the country. think of the jobs. you have to a magic bullet the results we see lichen

massachusetts. we set a couple of goals to build 2,000 megawatts wind power capacity is solar power by 2017. it is unprecedented but we knew the potential benefits were enormous. fast forward to today in massachusetts has increased renewable energy by 400 percent in the last four years alone. used the bulk purchasing program for residential solar to keep prices low for businesses across the state in residence and today there are installations and 350 of the 351 cities and towns for perot the commonwealth is a $10 billion industry that has grown by 10.5 percent over the past year and

47 percent since 2010. with nearly 100,000 people at 6,000 firms in the perfect example of how quickly the transformation can happen and how far the benefits reach if we put her mind to wit to forge the right partnerships we could bring these communities across the united states and around the globe to get their all nations have to be smarter how we use energy to encourage businesses to make smart energy choices as well. we have to invest in new technology but only to the communities but every country on every continent. we have to stop government

money to go to non renewable leica will. makes no sense to subsidize that widen its states has been helping to drive efforts to phase out wasteful fossil fuel subsidies and taking steps to prevent global financial institutions from a funding dirty power plants are putting money into those that go out and the wrong direction to strengthen the regulatory framework to help spur investment and is much easier to deploy capital when they have confidence in the local legal or regulatory policies to attract money we need to control risk the more you can minimize the greater the confidence of investors will have to bring capital to the table we also need to push

for the world's highest standards in the trade agreements we are pursuing and just like labor standards and other agreements these agreements have to be fully enforceable. finally we have to find more ways for public and private sector to work together to make the most of the innovative technology from around the world but the idea that is behind the white house announcement they made with a clean energy investment initiative the goal is to attract $2 billion of private sector investment to be put toward clean energy climate change solutions for the good news

is much of the technology we need is already out there. and is becoming faster and easier to access and cheaper to access. a report released this morning projects in the united states went power will be directly competitive with conventional technologies within the next 10 years. none of this there for what i have said is beyond our capacity. it is not a pipe dream but a reality and it is up to us to grab it but the question is whether or not is beyond our collective resolve. we have seen encouraging progress over the last few months. during the president's trip that was referred to as an introduction both china and india to affirm the far

reaching and we agreed done the net -- and we looked at committed closely so india is but the united states and china are the two largest theaters of carbon pollution. to countries by the way regarded as leaders of opposing camps have now found common ground on this issue. when i joined the president and unveiled the post the 20/20 mitigation commitments that is an enormous achievement and had the impact it was felt. around the same time the

renounced the target as well the we have a strong commitments from the three largest in the world. . . and because this has to be a truly all hands on deck effort i invite all of our partners, businesses and industry groups mayors governors, throughout the country, and around the world, to announce their own targets, their commitments leading up to paris so we can set an example and great a grassroots movement towards success. this will help us come forward with plans that will help every country be able to reach their goals. i am keenly aware we can do a getting job of engaging the private sector and our partners at the subnational level of government in this effort and i can tell you that i plan to make certain in the next months that happens. i know many of you have already made impressive