As Earth Day 2025 approaches, the usual calls for bold climate action are growing louder, but a new initiative argues it’s time to change not just the urgency, but the entire playbook.
Launched this week by the Council on Foreign Relations, The Climate Realism Initiative presents a stark assessment: U.S. climate policy has failed, and without a radical shift in strategy, the country is unprepared for the challenges ahead.
This shift comes at a critical time, as the threat of a return to a Trump administration – one that openly dismissed climate science and rolled back key protections – looms large.
The initiative’s focus on realism aims to create a policy framework that can withstand political whiplash and endure regardless of who holds power in Washington.
This initiative is not about tweaking old ideas. It’s about confronting uncomfortable truths. Its director, Varun Sivaram, makes the case that global warming is likely to blow past internationally agreed limits, and the U.S. must brace for the economic, social, and security fallout of a world that warms by at least 3°C (5.4F). It’s a wake-up call aimed at policymakers across the spectrum.
In the lead-up to Earth Day – a moment that rightly draws global attention to the climate crisis – The Climate Realism Initiative offers a different, strategic lens on what meaningful action could look like.
It rejects what Sivaram calls “magical fictions” about U.S. emissions alone solving the global climate crisis and instead calls for a strategic approach that prioritizes national interests, resilience, and technological leadership.
The plan focuses on investing in areas where the U.S. can lead, like next-gen nuclear, geothermal, and advanced batteries, while leveraging trade policy to push back on countries with soaring emissions. At the same time, it places climate change at the heart of national security planning, treating it as a threat on par with major geopolitical crises.
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