“North Carolinians are breathing the cleanest air in decades, according to new state data from the Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ).
The NCDEQ released its updated Air Quality Trends in North Carolina report on Friday. The report attributes the decline in air pollution emissions to efforts by state leaders, regulatory agencies, electric utilities, industry and the public to address air quality concerns over the last 50 years. The report said carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide emissions in particular reached all-time lows in 2022, the latest year for which data is available from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
‘Even as our population and economy continue to grow, North Carolina’s air quality keeps getting better and better,’ said DEQ Secretary Reid Wilson. ‘By controlling air pollution, we are giving every North Carolinian a cleaner, healthier future.’”
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.
###
