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“Buy Clean is also now on the radar of the U.S. Climate Alliance, the coalition of two dozen states and territories, including Maryland, that formed after former President Trump pulled the U.S. out of international climate pacts. While there are no formal agreements yet between the states, one goal, said Kareem Hammoud, a senior policy analyst at the U.S. Climate Alliance, is ensuring that whatever Buy Clean standards they enact are reasonably well-aligned with one another, so construction industry suppliers do not have to scramble from state to state.
‘We’re not just target-setting organizations,’ Hammoud said. ‘Governors commit to real action.’
‘But for many states,’ he conceded, ‘this is a very new area.’”
Launched on June 1, 2017 by the governors of Washington, New York, and California to help fill the void left by the previous administration’s decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement, the Alliance has grown to include 24 governors from across the U.S. representing approximately 60% of the U.S. economy and 55% of the U.S. population. Governors in the Alliance have pledged to collectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 26-28% below 2005 levels by 2025, at least 50-52% below 2005 levels by 2030, 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 demonstrate that climate action goes hand-in-hand with economic growth, job creation, and better public health. While reducing collective greenhouse gas emissions by 19%, Alliance members increased their collective GDP by 30%. The coalition’s states and territories are employing more workers in the clean energy sector, achieving lower levels of dangerous air pollutants, and preparing more effectively for climate impacts and executing more pre-disaster planning than the rest of the country.
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