FORT WAYNE — A local climate advocacy group is applauding US Sen. Mike Braun for helping create a bipartisan climate caucus.

The Indiana Senator worked with Sen. Chris Coons (R-DE) to form the bipartisan Senate Climate Solutions Caucus.

Earlier this week, the Fort Wayne chapter of Citizens’ Climate Lobby commended Braun on the effort.

The two senators officially launched the new group with a joint op-ed in The Hill. They described the caucus as “a bipartisan group of senators who, like the Americans we serve, believe Congress should play a central role in guiding America’s 21st-century energy economy and addressing the challenge of a changing climate. Our caucus seeks to take the politics out of this important issue.”

Both Senate offices will be inviting colleagues to join the group in Republican and Democratic pairs, maintaining bipartisan parity. This structure complements the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus in the House, formed in 2016.

Fort Wayne CCL group leader Kathryn Lisinicchia said, “Taking action on climate change is a critical issue and one that will affect all Hoosiers. We applaud Sen. Braun’s leadership and willingness to demonstrate the importance of working together to develop reasonable, bipartisan solutions to this issue.”

Citizens’ Climate Lobby Executive Director Mark Reynolds said he believes that most Americans want Republicans and Democrats to work together on solving climate change.

“This caucus will serve as an incubator where productive dialogue can lead to strong bipartisan climate legislation. For any climate solution to be enacted and upheld, it has to have buy-in from both sides of the aisle. Braun and Coons have initiated a process to make that happen,” Reynolds said.

About 80% of all American voters say it’s important for any national climate solution to be bipartisan. A recent Ipsos survey found that 77% of young Republican voters, in particular, call climate change a “serious threat.” In Senator Braun’s own state of Indiana, 64% of Hoosiers know climate change is happening, and 74% of Hoosiers want to see CO2 regulated as a pollutant, according to the Yale Program on Climate Change Communications, according to a news release from CSC.