Committee on Health and Human Relations
A RESOLUTION CALLING ON THE CITY OF CHICAGO TO EXAMINE THE HEALTH COST OF NEGATIVE EXTERNALITIES POSED BY FOSSIL FUEL COMPANIES
WHEREAS, the City of Chicago and communities across the State of Illinois are already experiencing the effects of global climate disruption. Over the past 120 years, the average daily temperature in Illinois has increased by 1-2°F in most areas, mean precipitation has increased by 5-20%, and the number of 2-inch rain days has increased by 40%;1; and
WHEREAS, trends in precipitation and temperature extremes are likely to continue unless there are ambitious actions to curb greenhouse gas emissions; and
WHEREAS, in October 2018, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the largest collaborative and consensus-based effort among the world's scientific community, conservatively estimated that global net greenhouse gas emissions must reach net zero no later than 2050 in order to avoid a dangerous increase in global temperatures that result in long-lasting and/or catastrophic and irreversible climate impacts; and
WHEREAS, the IPCC warned on April 4, 2022, that "limiting warming to around 1.5°C (2.7°F) requires global greenhouse gas emissions to peak before 2025 at the latest, and be reduced by 43% by 2030," while methane must be reduced by a third, and that "even if we do this, it is almost inevitable that we will temporarily exceed this temperature threshold"; and
WHEREAS, the National Climateand Health Assessment ofthe U.S. Global Climate Change Research Program identified climate change as a significant threat to the health of the people of the United States; and
WHEREAS, changes to the climate were caused by, and continue to be exacerbated by, unabated fossil fuel use; since the 1960s, unchecked fossil fuel combustion has caused an unprecedentedly rapid rise in the concentration of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere; indeed, fossil fuel combustion accounts for nearly 8...
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