The 2009, Fifteenth session of the UNFCCC Conference of Parties (COP15) in Copenhagen, Denmark presents a historic opportunity for all Parties including the United States to forge a new climate change agreement for implementation of the Convention beyond 2012, when the Convention’s Kyoto Protocol expires, with firm commitments to embark on the required reductions in emissions of GHGs. In July 2009, the leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized nations and leaders from emerging economies such as China, India, Brazil and Indonesia laid the groundwork for a global agreement by pledging to support a global warming limit of 2 °C (relative to pre-industrial levels) as the basis for an agreement in Copenhagen on an international climate change framework to reduce emissions of GHGs and avoid dangerous climate change.

To that end, the MFCN calls on the U.S. Government to:

• Adopt a global warming limit of 2 °C or less (relative to pre-industrial levels) as a benchmark for national mitigation efforts needed to avoid dangerous climate change, taking into account the fact that a limit may need to be lower if low-lying coastlines and small island states are to be saved from eventual inundation by rising sea levels;
• Join with other Parties to the UNFCCC to conclude negotiations on an effective and comprehensive international climate change agreement beyond 2012 at the upcoming COP15 in Copenhagen in December, 2009, in accordance with the ultimate objective of the Convention to stabilize GHG concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the global climate system;
• Enact national climate and energy legislation this year which sets a high standard for other national programs aimed at reducing GHG emissions as rapidly as possible to stabilize global temperatures and prevent dangerous climate change, and containing clear targets for reducing emissions of CO2 and other GHGs by no less than 25-40% below 1990 levels by 2020, and by 80-95% below 1990 levels by 2050;
• Require federal agencies to identify and evaluate climate change impacts whenever reviewing the environmental impacts of proposed actions pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and consider alternatives to mitigate the effects of proposed actions on emissions of GHGs and as well as mitigation measures and adaptive strategies to enhance the resilience of affected species and ecosystems to the impacts of climate change on federal activities;
• Establish a national ocean and Great Lakes policy aimed at (1) protecting, maintaining and restoring the health of ocean, coastal and Great Lakes ecosystems and the economies they support, (2) coordinating activities in federal waters to ensure that these activities do not cause or lead to undesirable ecological changes that foreclose options for future generations, and (3) requiring federal agencies to administer U.S. policies and laws to the fullest extent possible consistent with the policy;
• Amend existing federal management plans for living marine resources to include consideration of potential climate change impacts as well as appropriate mitigation measures and adaptive management measures aimed at fostering ecosystem resilience in the face of rapid climate change and ocean acidification; and
• Implement a coordinated coastal and ocean research plan to monitor ocean changes and ecosystem responses in order to inform federal agency strategies and management plans regarding the appropriate uses of ocean and coastal resources in an era of rapid global climate change.