White House officials are spending this week highlighting the public health and economic consequences of climate change on the one-year anniversary of President Barack Obama’s speech to combat address the problem.
On Sunday, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz joined several mayors in Dallas where they signed a climate protection agreement pledging to take action to reduce carbon pollution and prepare their communities.
The White House will host two roundtables to discuss the financial risks of climate change.
On Tuesday, Obama advisers John Podesta and Valerie Jarrett, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, NOAA Administrator Kathryn Sullivan and FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate will be joined by representatives from the nation’s leading insurance to discuss the economic consequences of increasingly frequent and severe extreme weather.
On Wednesday, Lew and others will meet with former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, former HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros, Cargill CEO Greg Page and philanthropist, environmentalist and donor Tom Steyer to discuss a new Risky Business report that assesses the economic risks of climate change.
On Wednesday, Obama will be the featured speaker at the League of Conservation Voters’ annual dinner.
Obama’s plan calls for boosting renewable energy and efficiency standards for appliances and federal buildings, and preparing the nation for the extreme weather impacts of a changing planet. But the long-awaited plan left the specifics to be worked out.