Cory Booker on Climate: Supporting Paris Climate Accord is “Kindergarten”. We need to go far beyond to fight this threat

Newark, NJ — Tonight on the debate stage, Cory Booker vowed to treat climate change like the existential threat it is. Greenpeace has ranked Cory at the top of the Democratic field on climate.

Cory has battled polluters and combated climate change as the mayor of Newark and as a New Jersey senator. As president he’ll rejoin the Paris Climate Accord on day one and use every lever of America’s diplomatic and economic might to accelerate global progress on the issue.

With global temperatures continuing to rise, our country will continue to see more extreme weather, storms, droughts, and wildfires. Cory believes that the threat of climate change must be met with a sweeping commitment from the federal government to reduce our carbon footprint. Communities of color, low-income communities and family farmers are on the front lines of climate change; Cory would address climate change in a way that promotes both economic and environmental justice.

As president, Cory will take immediate steps to combat climate change, and protect and defend all communities affected by pollution and environmental injustice:

• Work to implement a Green New Deal.
• Rejoin the Paris Climate Accord.
• Undo the damage the Trump administration has done at the Environmental Protection Agency and hold polluters accountable.
• Put a moratorium on drilling on our public lands.
• Reauthorize and triple the Superfund tax on chemical and oil companies.
• Increase fees on coal mine operators to pay for the cleanup of abandoned mines.
• Protect marginalized communities suffering from environmental injustices by increasing staffing at the EPA’s Environmental Justice Office and the External Civil Rights Enforcement Office.
• Step up efforts to defend communities of color, low-income communities, and indigenous communities by doubling staffing in all EPA enforcement offices.
• Safeguard the basic human right to safe drinking water.
• End the plague on communities caused by lead paint.
• Stop polluting companies from evading responsibility for environmental cleanups.
• Raise the standards for granting or renewing Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act Permits.
• Ban fracking.
• Reinstate and expand the crude oil export ban.
• Require consideration of climate change impacts in permitting decisions for any new fossil fuel infrastructure.
• Prohibit construction of new fossil fuel infrastructure when cost competitive clean energy alternatives are available.
• End all federal subsidies for fossil fuel production.

Should the DNC host a climate debate, Cory also committed to participating.