Today, Rep. Scott Peters (CA-52) is representing the United States at the Conference of the Parties 25 (COP25) at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Madrid, Spain. He attends the conference at the invitation of Speaker Pelosi, in a delegation that includes the Speaker, a Senator, and 12 other Members of Congress. The delegation will hold a press conference at 2:45 p.m. C.E.T. on Monday, December 2, which will be livestreamed.

The COP25 summit is the 25^th meeting of governments that are Parties to the UNFCCC. Past summits have created the Kyoto Protocol (1997) and the Paris Agreement (2015). This year’s summit will focus on the consequences of climate change on the ocean and the need for ocean-specific climate action, how developed and developing countries can work together to meet objectives of the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement, on the vital need to enact large-scale change to meet net-zero emissions, and the need for urgent climate action from all communities, governments, and generations. While this COP meeting is the first since President Trump officially withdrew the United States from the Paris Agreement, American negotiators will remain part of the Agreement and can exercise veto power until November 4, 2020.

“Urgent climate action requires global attention. While President Trump shirks American leadership by abandoning our commitment to the Paris Agreement, Congress can still show the world that Americans remain committed. I am grateful to Speaker Pelosi for her leadership to give voice to the overwhelming majority of Americans who demand climate action now,” said Rep. Peters.

The Members of the Congressional Delegation are Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA); Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI); Chairman Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Committee on Energy and Commerce; Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX), Committee on Science, Space, Technology; Chairman Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ), Committee on Natural Resources; Chairwoman Kathy Castor (D-FL), Select Committee on the Climate Crisis; Congresswoman Betty McCollum (D-MN); Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR); Congresswoman Julia Brownley (D-CA); Congressman Jared Huffman (D-CA); Congressman Scott Peters (D-CA); Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (D-MI); Congressman Mike Levin (D-CA); Congressman Sean Casten (D-IL); and Congressman Joe Neguse (D-CO).

Rep. Peters has championed immediate action on climate change. This year, Rep. Peters created the Climate Playbook to demonstrate what work Congress has already done to combat climate change in a variety of sectors, voted with the House to pass his bipartisan disaster aid transparency bill, introduced the bipartisan and bicameral Super Pollutants Act and the USE IT Act, introduced the bipartisan Renewable Electricity Tax Credit Equalization Act and the bipartisan Strengthening the Resiliency of our Nation on the Ground (STRONG) Act, delivered a Clean Energy Week address at the National Press Club, wrote an op-ed with UCSD Scripps Institution of Oceanography Director Dr. Margaret Leinen, and endorsed climate legislation with the New Democrat Collation.

In 2017, Rep. Peters addressed the Vatican at a climate conference convened by Pope Francis. Before his election to Congress in 2012, Rep. Peters worked as an environmental attorney and as an economist at the Environmental Protection Agency.