Quotes from Brian Deese

Although the Trump administration cannot halt global progress on climate change, it can still hurt the U.S. economy and the United States' diplomatic standing by abandoning the Paris agreement.

If you under-invest in these areas of crisis, it becomes a persistent drag on growth.

Many smaller economies - island states, poor nations, and tropical countries are among the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

The care work force, the people who care for the elderly and disabled in the country and the people who principally provide child care are overwhelmingly women and overwhelmingly paid at poverty wages.

For the typical Americans, most of their income comes from wages. So, for people making less than $1 million a year, about 70% of their income comes from wages. But for those making more than $1 million, for the top 0.3%, it's the opposite.

We have a theory on how to constrain the size of government, but it has to be focused on how to make the U.S. competitive, and it has to be about jobs and wages for American workers.

Our research indicates that, for example, the physical risks of climate change - both the direct risks to facilities, but also the indirect risks to economic growth and otherwise, are more pronounced and happening more quickly than a traditional perspective would suggest.

For too long, opponents of climate change have hid behind the argument that the U.S. cannot afford to cut carbon pollution because other countries won't follow suit.

From drought-parched Brazil to the increasingly ice-free Arctic Ocean, from the rising seas along the Florida coast to the punishing heat waves hitting South Asia, in communities large and small, rich and poor, urban and remote, we can see the irrefutable evidence of what science has long told us was coming.

Strategic public investment to shelter and grow champion industries is a reality of the 21st century economy. We cannot ignore or wish this away.

The fact is, we can take on climate change, grow the economy, and create more jobs and opportunity for the American people at the same time.

Climate change is going to drive a very significant reallocation of capital.

Under President Obama's leadership, the United States has done more to combat climate change than ever before.

It is neither feasible or advisable for us to reshore all supply chains; partnerships with our allies that promote more stable access to key inputs while improving environmental sustainability and workers' rights is essential.

Most challenges arise suddenly, with little warning. Climate change is different. For decades, we've known why global average temperatures are rising, why greenhouse gas concentrations are increasing, why the oceans are warming and weather patterns are growing more extreme.

The data show it's possible to grow the economy without growing pollution.

When we look at economic crises, it is more often policy makers do too little than too much.

When President Obama first came into office in 2009, I spent a fair amount of time in Michigan.

Presidents must be willing to fight for American jobs and should set a central goal of federal policy of creating an environment that rewards companies for investing here and discourages them from moving abroad.

When fully implemented, the EPA's Clean Power Plan will prevent up to 6,600 premature deaths and 150,000 juvenile asthma attacks annually.

If you look at the American Jobs Plan, there is a real focus on a multiyear public investment plan designed to get at those shovel-worthy projects - those projects that are not going to take forever but really do require some planning and technical capability.

Technological progress has made clean energy a profitable investment, and growing popular pressure has forced politicians to respond to the threat of ecological disaster.

As new technologies upend the economics of climate change, the politics surrounding the environment are changing, too.

Markets - on their own - will not make investments in the technologies and infrastructure that would benefit an entire industry.