WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs and the Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Water and Wildlife, released the following statement on the agreement between the United States and China to reduce carbon emissions:

“Climate change is real and we are seeing the impacts from Baltimore to Beijing and across the globe. American leadership and innovation, coupled with international cooperation, can curb the impacts of climate change. I applaud the Obama Administration and Chinese Government for making substantive commitments to reducing our collective carbon footprint. America must continue to take climate change seriously. The international community is looking to the United States for leadership when it comes to fighting climate change. We must accept this responsibility or allow the rest of world to pass us by in clean energy development and reap the associated economic benefits. Internationally and domestically, there is no disagreement that fossil fuels are a finite commodity. Developing viable alternatives, while simultaneously conserving energy, is an economic and environmental necessity.”

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