A Letter from the President of the American Academy
In 2021, the Board of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences issued a public statement affirming that “All of us—scientists, engineers, humanists, lawyers, social scientists, educators, artists, and individuals from the private sector and government—must work together to limit and respond to climate change. In these efforts, we need to collaborate with national and international companies, organizations, and institutions.” The Board’s statement not only served as a rallying cry, but also set in motion a significant endeavor within the Academy, one that would span several years and encompass diverse disciplines. This initiative, the Commission on Accelerating Climate Action, epitomizes nonpartisanship and multisector collaboration. It embodies the Academy’s commitment to identify obstacles impeding climate action while charting a course to expedite climate mitigation and adaptation.
Our country is experiencing irreparable changes that reflect our failure to act on climate change—from food supply shortages to more frequent and intense storms, droughts, and wildfires. But it is also a time of increasing legislative action, private-sector engagement, and public concern. The prospect of profound transformation lies before us, if only we dare embrace the potential. The interdisciplinary nature of the Academy allowed us to convene a commission that rises to this challenge, addressing the existential threat of climate change from a whole-of-society approach. The recommendations here do not seek to elucidate the nuances of any single sector or area for climate action. Instead, they construct a comprehensive vision that encompasses the entirety of American society, delineating a pathway for collective action on a broader scale. This report also embeds the paramount concern of environmental justice in its recommendations, promoting a vision of the future in which climate impacts do not disproportionately burden marginalized populations, and the benefits of resiliency can be enjoyed by all.
The Commission would not have been possible without the leadership of our cochairs. The Academy expresses deep gratitude to Mustafa Santiago Ali, Vice President of Environmental Justice, Climate, and Community Revitalization for the National Wildlife Federation; Christopher Field, the Perry L. McCarty Director of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment and the Melvin and Joan Lane Professor for Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies at Stanford University; David G. Victor, Professor of Innovation and Public Policy and Co-Director of the Deep Decarbonization Initiative at the University of California, San Diego, and Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution; and Patricia Vincent-Collawn, Chairman and CEO of PNM Resources. The Academy is also grateful for the wise guidance and hard work of their fellow Commission members, who generously dedicated their time and expertise and, most importantly, set aside personal interests and disagreements to fully endorse this report, which aims to improve the well-being of all Americans (see About the Commission on Accelerating Climate Action for a complete list of Commission members).
Forging Climate Solutions builds on the work of three Commission working groups: the Communications Working Group (chaired by Bob Inglis, Kathleen Hall Jamieson, and J. Marshall Shepherd), the Private Sector Working Group (chaired by Leanne Kealoha Fox and Chad Holliday), and the Human and National Security Working Group (chaired by Gary Roughead and Hilary Tompkins). In preparation for this report, each working group published an executive summary of their findings, and the Communications and Human and National Security Working Groups published white papers. All Commission publications, detailed information about the recommendations, additional case studies, and project updates are available at www.amacad.org/climate.
In addition to the diverse expertise of the Commission, we are indebted to the insight provided in interviews with more than seventy leaders in the arts, the private sector, the military, agriculture, government, and more. Furthermore, we extend our heartfelt appreciation for the invaluable insights provided by participants in several roundtable discussions of environmental justice, whose feedback greatly contributed to enhancing those aspects of our report. Their wisdom and perspectives have significantly enriched our understanding and reinforced our commitment to addressing these crucial issues (see Acknowledgments for a list of sounding session and roundtable participants).
We are grateful to the funders who have made the work of the Commission possible: Roger Sant and Doris Matsui, Hansjörg Wyss, Bob Higgins, the Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment, William and Helen Pounds, the David and Ellen Lee Family Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and an endowment provided by John E. Bryson and Louise Henry Bryson.
We express our profound gratitude to the numerous Academy members who have been instrumental in supporting this project from its inception. A special acknowledgment goes to the dedicated members of the Board of Directors, Council, and Trust for their commitment to this Commission and their continued support of the Academy’s science, engineering, and technology initiatives. Thanks, as well, to members of the Academy staff who helped realize the vision of this Commission and guide the report to publication: Carson Bullock, Kate Carter, Leo Curran, Tania Munz, Kelsey Schuch, Jen Smith, Alison Franklin, Alex Parker-Guerrero, Peter Robinson, Sophia Charan, Islam Qasem, Phyllis Bendell, Key Bird, Scott Raymond, and Peter Walton.
Since 1780, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences has been dedicated to addressing some of the most important challenges facing our nation. It is clear that climate change is the challenge of our time. I hope that you will join me in supporting and sharing the vital work of this Commission, so that our country may embark on this bold plan for a more sustainable future.
Sincerely,
David W. Oxtoby
President, American Academy of Arts and Sciences