Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Saturday criticized the global climate change accord adopted after two weeks of negotiations among diplomats in Paris, saying the agreement goes "nowhere near far enough."
The landmark 31-page agreement includes a pledge to curb climate change by reducing carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions, calling on countries to support each other in adapting to the environmental challenges resulting from climate change, such as devastating droughts and rising sea levels.
Sanders said he didn't think the accord went far enough to demand action from those countries to lower carbon emissions.
"While this is a step forward it goes nowhere near far enough. The planet is in crisis. We need bold action in the very near future and this does not provide that,” Sanders said in the statement.
"In the United States we have a Republican Party which is much more interested in contributions from the fossil fuel industry than they care about the future of the planet. That is true all over the globe," he said. "We’ve got to stand up to the fossil fuel industry and fight for national and international legislation that transforms our energy system away from fossil fuel as quickly as possible."
Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton called the agreement "an historic step forward" in global efforts to address climate change, applauding America's leadership in the process. She called for a redoubling of efforts to transition to a "clean energy economy" in a statement following the news.
"The next decade of action is critical -- because if we do not press forward with driving clean energy growth and cutting carbon pollution across the economy, we will not be able to avoid catastrophic consequences," she wrote.
Read More Paris Coverage
Also on HuffPost:
