Friends -

Earlier this week, the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its 2021 report assessing the current state of the climate crisis.

The IPCC concluded that human activity has already done irreparable harm to our planet, and that without urgent action, we will continue to see disastrous consequences — intensifying temperatures, rising sea levels, deadly weather events, wildfires, floods, droughts, and even cities across the globe becoming entirely uninhabitable.

UN Secretary General António Guterres described the situation as “code red for humanity” — and he’s right. Nothing short of a Green New Deal and immediate, bold action on climate will get the job done.

This is a clear warning — but all is not lost. The IPCC report lays out where we are headed, what we must do, and how we can prepare in order to prevent even more extreme consequences of the climate crisis. This is a chance for us to save the planet.

The infrastructure packages currently being debated in Congress are a solid start, and will go a long way toward making progress on climate — but we cannot stop there. We need to fight climate change while building our country back better than ever.

That’s why I've introduced the Main Street Energy Efficiency Act. My bill specifically targets energy efficiency investments to women- and minority-owned businesses to help them lower operating costs AND reduce carbon emissions.

Climate change is the challenge of our time. We need to address it urgently and decisively, not bury our heads in the sand.

Our progressive movement must stand together and continue working towards the fairer, cleaner future we know is possible. The price of inaction or half-measures is simply too high.

The time to act is now. As always, thank you for being a part of our fight.

All my best,

Peter Welch