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Pelosi Remarks at COP26 Advancing Gender Equality in Climate Action Event

November 9, 2021

Contact: Speaker's Press Office,

202-226-7616

Glasgow – Speaker Nancy Pelosi delivered remarks at the Advancing Gender Equality in Climate Action Event held during the Congressional delegation's visit to the United Nations COP26 in Glasgow. Below are the Speaker's remarks:

Speaker Pelosi. Good morning, everyone. Thank you so much, Madam Minister, for leading that beautiful panel today. I – we came with a great, distinguished delegation from the Congress of the United States. We came to listen, we came to learn – and what we heard gives us great hope.

It is a privilege to be here with a Congressional delegation to join you today, as we act upon the climate crisis: the existential threat of our time. It is a [threat] multiplier – a threat multiplier, amplifying and accelerating existing inequities in our economies and societies.

Eighty percent of people displaced in climate change globally are women. Addressing the rapidly changing climate is a matter of justice and equality, with the most vulnerable most affected – including indigenous communities, less developed countries and our focus, today and every day, on women.

To that end, we come here fresh from advancing the most ambitious and consequential climate and clean energy legislation of all time in our country.

[Applause]

I'll want to – I acknowledged and now want to recognize our distinguished delegation, that they would all rise, the largest delegation to ever attend such a meeting.

[Applause]

We're so proud of them. Thank you all.

Again, we learned, we've gained hope listening this morning and being reported to in the course of the past week. But we're here today to report on what we have done. This is – a nearly trillion dollar investment, in Build Back Better and [the] Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework, recognizes the interconnectedness of climate change and gender justice and enables women and girls to lead a just transition to a clean energy economy of the future.

Our legislation advances our mission to decarbonize and realign every sector of the economy. It is a model of collaboration that brings together public, private and non-profit sectors to seal the – scale the solutions necessary for achieving net-zero pollution globally.

These bills are far-reaching in scale and scope, ensuring that the design, manufacturing, financing and deployment of our economy, our future economy is cleaner and greener. That means hundreds of billions of dollars for clean energy tax credits, resilience, environmental justice and state, local, regional-led climate solutions, where women play a key role.

It also is an investment in our care economy: child care, family [and] medical leave. It's about home health care. It's about early, universal pre-K – all the things that liberate women to play a more important role in our economy.

All of this advances President Biden's plan to cut climate pollution in half by 2030, and net-zero by 2050, as he and Special Envoy John Kerry have presented already here. And we're very proud of our leadership on this subject.

I'm proud [of] this legislation's commitment to tackling climate change For The World and For Women. And by the end of this year, we will pass legislation toward doubling our international climate finance commitments. Chairman Meeks is here to talk about that later today.

We are also proud of our Chair of the Select Committee on Climate Crisis, Kathy Castor, for launching the most ambitious climate action plan in American history. It's built – it's Build Back Better with Women, Build Back Better with Women.

I want to also recognize the great women members of our delegation, so that you know that in making these decisions that women have a seat at the head of the table: Eddie Bernice Johnson, Betty McCollum, Chellie Pingree, Suzanne Bonamici, Julia Brownley, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Veronica Escobar.

Now, people ask me all the time for many years: ‘If you rule the world, what one thing would you do?' If I ruled the world, the one thing that I would do is invest in the education of women and girls and their empowerment.

[Applause]

You and I know that makes all the difference in the world, not just to the women – those women, to their families, to the communities, to their countries, to the world.

So, I thank you for the opportunity, Madam Minister, thank you to – and the President, as well – to participate in this timely conversation. Thank you for recognizing the centrality of women in the climate fight.

And thank you to the women and young women – people who have been mobilizing. We always say in Congress, our inside maneuvering can just go so far. The outside mobilization makes everything better. And so, let's thank those young people for their mobilization, and women. And they're true to our mantra: ‘We don't agonize we organize, we organize.' We organize.

[Applause]

So, let's thank them for what they're doing out there.

[Applause]

Again, because we believe that when women succeed, the world succeeds. And so, as the President said – President Biden has said, ‘America is Back' – together, for the planet, for the women, for our children.

Thank you all very much for the opportunity to share some thoughts with you this morning.

[Applause]

And now it is my privilege to introduce First Minister Nicola Sturgeon of Scotland.

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