The U.S. solar industry is doing its part to fight climate change – and we're prepared to do even more in the future.

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, a respected non-partisan committee of experts released its National Climate Assessment (NCA) report, offering its starkest warning yet about the dangers of climate change. After reading the report, Rhone Resch, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), released the following statement:

"Today's report should serve as a tsunami warning for the world. Climate change is no longer a theoretical assumption debated by scientific scholars. It's a reality of the world we live in – and one of our greatest challenges as a civilization when it comes to the kind of world we hope to leave behind.

"The facts are indisputable. Today, sea levels are rising. We're experiencing more intense and unpredictable storms. And droughts plague the world. Clearly, climate change threatens our economy, our future progress, our health and safety, and even our way of life. Every day, the Earth suffers a little more from human neglect. We can't wish this problem away, and pointing fingers won't solve it, either.

"The U.S. solar industry is doing its part to fight climate change – and we're prepared to do even more in the future. Today, we're generating enough clean, reliable electricity to power nearly 2.5 million homes. When it comes to greenhouse gas emissions, the 13 GW of solar currently installed in the United States generates enough pollution-free electricity to displace 14.2 billion pounds of coal or 1.5 billion gallons of gasoline. Put another way, it's the equivalent of taking 2.7 million passenger cars off U.S. highways each year. That's a huge plus for our increasingly fragile environment.

"We applaud President Obama on his commitment to fight climate change and pledge our support to this cause as Americans – and as an industry committed to positive change."