“Gov. Tina Kotek wants state agencies to move faster to address climate change, ensure more longterm renewable energy power that is cheap and reliable for Oregonians and fill in gaps from federal disinvestment from clean energy projects.
To do so, Kotek on Wednesday issued an executive order directing state agencies to speed up energy project permitting and processes to connect renewable energy to the state’s electric grid for the long haul.
She called on more than a dozen state land and natural resource agencies to collaborate on strategies by September 2026 that will lead to policy proposals for the Legislature to take up in 2027. They must advance the state’s target of reducing greenhouse gas pollution 50% by 2035 and 90% by 2050, as established in a 2021 executive order by former Gov. Kate Brown.”
Launched in 2017 by the governors of Washington, New York, and California to help fill the void left by the U.S. federal government’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, the Alliance has grown to include 24 governors from across the U.S. representing approximately 60 percent of the U.S. economy and 55 percent of the U.S. population. Governors in the Alliance have pledged to collectively reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 26-28 percent by 2025, 50-52 percent by 2030, and 61-66 percent by 2035, all below 2005 levels, and collectively achieve overall net-zero greenhouse gas emissions as soon as practicable, and no later than 2050.
The Alliance’s states and territories continue to advance innovative and impactful climate solutions to grow the economy, create jobs, and protect public health, and have a long record of action and results. In fact, the latest data shows that as of 2023, the Alliance has reduced its collective net greenhouse gas emissions by 24 percent below 2005 levels, while increasing collective GDP by 34 percent, and is on track to meet its near-term climate goal of reducing collective greenhouse gas emissions 26 percent below 2005 levels by 2025.
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