On Monday, the United Nations’ twentieth annual Conference of the Parties (COP) convened in Lima, Peru, where for two weeks, nations will continue working toward a global strategy to address climate change. The conference adds to a streak of recent news in the fight against climate change. During his trip to Asia last month, President Obama jointly announced with President Xi of China medium-term climate pollution reduction targets for both nations. The agreement was historic because for the first time ever, China agreed to binding targets to reduce its emissions of carbon pollution. Shortly after that, the United States pledged $3 billion to the United Nation’s Green Climate Fund (GCF), which is designed to support projects, programs, and policies in the world’s poorest countries to help them prepare for the impacts of a changing climate.

As Chairman Murray has noted, the consequences from a changing climate are already being seen throughout the U.S., and across many sectors of the economy. In July, Chairman Murray held a hearing on the economic and fiscal costs of inaction on climate change to illustrate that additional disaster relief spending and costly adaptation measures that will be needed to protect critical infrastructure and maintain our national security will likely add hundreds of billions of dollars to the national debt and crowd out investments in other critical priorities.

Solving a global problem like climate change will require a global solution. That’s why the United States’ continued leadership is essential for international progress on climate change. After the United States’ pledge to the GCF, other nations, including Japan, Germany, Canada, Spain, and the United Kingdom soon followed with their own commitments, ending the GCF’s first pledging conference with more than $9 billion pledged.

These international investments in climate resiliency will help reduce the impacts of climate change on the most vulnerable nations across the globe, which will also benefit the U.S. As Senator Murray’s memo on the budgetary impacts of climate change points out, rising temperatures could act as a catalyst for instability and conflict around the world, adding to the costs of protecting our nations’ interests. Climate adaptation strategies funded by the GCF will help improve U.S. national security and increase geopolitical stability by reducing the societal disruptions caused by climate change, such as food shortages, massive population migration, and conflicts over water resources. In addition, the U.S. military is often called upon to assist with humanitarian relief in the wake of natural disasters. Helping developing nations build climate resiliency will make these missions less frequent, intensive, and costly. Finally, the GCF will help countries use advanced pollution control and clean energy technologies. GCF funds will help purchase this equipment, much of which is being developed and made here in the U.S.

Delaying action on global climate change poses serious risks to our economy and the federal budget. If action to reduce emissions is delayed by just 10 years, the costs to address climate change will rise by as much as 40 percent. The U.S.’s pledge to the Green Climate Fund is an essential element to continuing the fight against climate change and a critical investment in the United States’ economic future.