SELC Statement on Rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — The Southern Environmental Law Center released the following statement by Executive Director Jeff Gleason in response to President Biden’s Executive Order to rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement and start undoing other Trump administration environmental rollbacks:

“We are experiencing the growing and devastating impacts of climate change in the South, from our communities that bear the brunt of more intense storms and flooding to vanishing mountain forests and wildlife.

Yet for the past four years—a critical period for reversing our climate course—federal action on climate change has been put on hold. States, communities, business leaders, and millions of Americans have stepped up to fill this void and tackle the causes and consequences of climate change, but these admirable and effective efforts can’t make up for the lack of national and global leadership.

President Biden demonstrated that leadership today when one of his first actions in the Oval Office was to initiate the process to rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement. This shows the world that the United States is ready, again, to take on the defining environmental challenge of our time.

SELC works every day towards this better future. We know we cannot solve our country’s climate challenge without solving it in the South. We’re ready to lead the charge to restore the laws that guarantee clean air and clean water, to protect communities that have been most harmed by environmental injustices and climate inaction, and to face this critical moment for our climate future.”