WASHINGTON (November 2, 2014) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), the chair of the U.S. Senate Climate Change Clearinghouse and Chairman of the Foreign Relations subcommittee with jurisdiction over global climate and energy issues, today released the following statement regarding the release of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s synthesis report. Senator Markey is the co-author of the only comprehensive climate change bill to pass a chamber of Congress.??

“When U.S. politicians refuse to act on climate change by claiming that they are not scientists, this report is the answer to their evasion. Our world's best climate scientists are saying climate change is dangerous, it is here, and it will get worse if we sit idly by and make excuses not to act.

"Fortunately, you don't need to be a scientist to know that solutions to climate change are also job creators, like solar and wind energy. You don't have to be a doctor to know that less air pollution means better public health. You don’t have to be a military leader  to know that fighting climate change also helps us reduce our dependence on foreign oil and increases our national security. You just have to have some common sense.

"Clean energy is already creating tens of thousands of jobs in my home state of Massachusetts, and I have introduced legislation that would create hundreds of thousands of those jobs all across America. Instead of allowing climate catastrophe to happen, we can choose clean energy job creation, but only if we stop the silly excuses and take serious action."