Whitehouse to be joined by fellow Senate climate hawk Markey
Senate climate leaders to reassure the international community that large swaths of the U.S. remain committed to climate action
Washington, DC – This evening, U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) will lead the Senate delegation to Baku, Azerbaijan to join heads of state, lawmakers, private sector leaders, environmental champions, and civil society leaders from around the world at the U.N.’s 29th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP)—the largest and most important venue for world governments to gather to find international agreement on ways to solve the global climate crisis. U.S. Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) will also travel as part of the Senate delegation to COP29.
In Baku, Whitehouse will push for a crackdown on methane leakage, carbon pricing and a carbon border adjustment mechanism, and continued decarbonization of the global economy, while seeking to reassure the international community that Democrats will continue working to solve the climate crisis and combat fossil fuel corruption in Washington.
“Dark days are ahead in Washington as Donald Trump, Republicans, and their fossil fuel handlers abdicate America’s leadership on climate just as the scientific and economic warnings of climate chaos grow more clear and grim,” said Whitehouse. “The world must be clear-eyed about the threat Trump’s Republican Party poses to climate safety. At COP, I hope to reassure our foreign counterparts that Democrats will pursue climate progress at every level of government while fighting tooth and nail to expose the Big Oil-fueled corruption descending on D.C.”
In Baku, Senator Markey will stress the need to phase out fossil fuels, cut emissions across all sectors, and commit to ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions and a robust New Collective Quantified Goal for climate finance. He will stand with the international community to make it clear that Democrats and domestic climate leaders, even under a second Trump administration, will continue to take climate action and hold Big Oil accountable. Additionally, Senator Markey will participate in meetings related to Azerbaijan’s handling of human rights and policies towards journalists, civil society leaders, and political prisoners.
“Climate change and Donald Trump are both existential threats to our health and to our livable future–but we’re not giving up on either front,” said Markey. “Even if Donald Trump is ready to enact his day-one doomsday agenda and pull the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Agreement yet again, we will rise up in support of ambitious climate action and climate finance targets—targets that will show that COP stands for Climate Outlasts Presidents. We must work together, both at home and in solidarity with lawmakers around the world, in order to delay and derail Trump and the fossil fuel industry’s dirty agenda. And we must continue to fight for human rights and freedoms for civil society and a healthy peace process everywhere.”
Whitehouse and Markey arrive in Baku on Friday and will participate in a press call at 2:30 p.m. EST. Interested media should RSVP HERE to receive call-in details.
Saturday’s schedule begins with a meeting with the Office of the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate. Whitehouse will then participate in discussions on the future of U.S. climate policy, sea level rise and coastal resiliency, global methane enforcement, climate and trade policy, and corporate influence on climate policy. On Sunday, Senator Whitehouse will participate in discussions on climate policy with foreign officials and business leaders. While in Baku, the Senate delegation will also meet with the U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for Climate Action. The delegation will return to Washington on Monday.
