President Obama today stressed the urgency for reaching an international climate accord, saying that if the issue worsens it will soon require re-allocating more resources to fight climate change.
“If we let the world keep warming as fast as it is, and sea levels rising as fast as they are, and weather patterns keep shifting in more unexpected ways — then before long, we are going to have to devote more and more and more of our economic and military resources not to growing opportunity for our people, but to adapting to the various consequences of a changing planet,” Obama said at a press conference in France. “This is an economic and security imperative that we have to tackle now.”
He said that while it will be challenging for 200 nations to come to an agreement, he still thinks a deal can be reached by the end of the conference.
“My main focus is making sure that the United States is a leader in bringing a successful agreement home here in Paris,” he said. “The key here is to set up the structure so that we’re sending signals all around the world: This is happening. We’re not turning back.”
