Carbajal Chairs Transportation Committee’s First Hearing on Climate Change Adaptation
Washington,
February 26, 2019
Today, Rep. Salud Carbajal (CA-24), Vice Chair of the Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee, chaired the Committee’s first climate change-focused hearing of the 116th Congress titled: “Examining How Federal Infrastructure Policy Could Help Mitigate and Adapt to Climate Change.” The hearing explored the transportation sector’s role in climate change and engaged individuals in the public and private sectors who have demonstrated pragmatic solutions for reducing carbon emissions and building resilient infrastructure. “I’m encouraged to see the T&I Committee take a long, hard look at innovative solutions to reduce carbon emissions in the transportation sector,” said Carbajal. “The Central Coast deserves infrastructure they can rely on even in a changing environment. Our experts affirmed today that bold investments to reduce emissions don’t just help mitigate climate change impacts, they also make economic sense.” According to the Environmental Protection Agency, in 2017, the emissions from transportation accounted for about 28.7 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, making it the largest contributor of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Within the U.S. transportation sector, passenger vehicles and freight trucks added together account for 83 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. The Committee heard testimony that reinforced the need to incentivize states, local communities, and industry to reduce their carbon emissions by creating programs to support innovation and experimentation. There was bipartisan support for federal funding for infrastructure that takes into account the resiliency of the infrastructure asset over its expected service life, including the ability of the asset to withstand changes to climate and extreme weather events. Watch the full video of the hearing here. Background: The first panel focused on ways to mitigate the effects of climate change, by reducing carbon emissions to reduce the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The Committee heard from representatives of the California Air Resources Board, Georgetown Climate Center, Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, Electrification Coalition, and Airlines for America. The second panel addressed how to make infrastructure more resilient and protect people, infrastructure, and ecosystems from the impacts of climate change. The Committee heard from representatives of the Center for American Progress, McWane Inc., Center for Strategic and International Studies, and The Nature Conservancy. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates that human activities have caused approximately 1.0°C of global warming above pre-industrial levels, and are likely to cause a 1.5°C increase between 2030 and 2052 if warming continues at the current rate. Impacts from global warming are already apparent, including increasingly severe weather events. If action is not taken to quickly reverse course, these trends will persist for centuries and will continue to cause further long-term changes to the environment, such as sea level rise, changing precipitation patterns, more acidic oceans, and increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. ### |
