John Delaney: “Recent data suggests that climate change is accelerating. As a result, the destabilizing effect it has on our…”

“Recent data suggests that climate change is accelerating. As a result, the destabilizing effect it has on our environment is worsening. To my mind, this is a clear threat to American prosperity and global stability. Mr. Chairman, consider the fact that the Governor of the Bank of England in a speech recently said that he is very concerned that unless we respond to climate change, there will be a dramatic reduction in value of carbon assets, which will cause a financial crisis. As a country with the largest financial markets in the world, we should be concerned about that. Mr. Chairman, consider the fact that Citigroup recently put out a research report that said unless we deal with climate change, the effect on global GDP will be $44 trillion to the negative by 2050. That is twice the size of the U.S. economy. Mr. Chairman, consider the fact that the U.N. has estimated that unless we deal with climate change, 150 million people will be forced to be relocated by 2050; 20 million, alone, in Bangladesh. Put that in the context of the fact that in Syria we are seeing the effects of 7 million people being forced to be relocated. Again, Mr. Chairman, this is a clear threat to American prosperity, and the bad news is that our environment is worse. The good news is the technology is better for dealing with this problem. Consider the fact that, as we have doubled the installed base of solar energy in this country, we have reduced the cost of energy by 23 percent.…”