Our chance to build a clean, just, and equitable future is now. After years of rollbacks and regressive climate policies on the federal level, it’s time for the US to step up and become a global leader on climate.
Today, the Biden administration is holding its Leaders Summit on Climate, and in rejoining the Paris Climate Accords, the US is establishing new national commitments to combat climate pollution. We’re calling on the Biden administration to develop even stronger safeguards to tackle methane pollution from oil and gas facilities.
Methane is a greenhouse gas with 86 times the climate impact as carbon dioxide in the short term. That means that it has a much greater immediate impact on our climate than carbon dioxide, so cutting methane pollution is critical to slowing climate change and keeping global warming under 1.5 degrees Celsius.
At oil and gas facilities, methane is released into the atmosphere alongside other pollutants like volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that are hazardous to communities nearby. Not only is cutting methane pollution crucial to slowing our climate crisis, it’s a key piece of efforts to protect the 12.6 million Americans living within a half-mile threat radius of oil and gas sites.
This Earth Day, we’re asking the Biden administration to commit to a 65% cut in methane pollution from oil and gas facilities by 2025. The increasing severity of the climate crisis demands bold action, and the administration already has the authority to achieve this under the Clean Air Act.
Act on climate this Earth Day by signing our petition to the Biden administration!