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“President Biden on Thursday announced an aggressive new climate goal for the United States, saying that the country should seek to slash its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 61 percent below 2005 levels by 2035.
The target is not binding and will almost certainly be disregarded by President-elect Donald J. Trump, who has called global warming a ‘scam.’ But Biden administration officials said they hoped it would encourage state and local governments to continue to cut the emissions that are rapidly heating the planet, even if the federal government pulls back.”
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“On Thursday, a bipartisan coalition of governors from 24 states announced that they would work together to try to meet the new goal. ‘This new collective goal will serve as our North Star,’ Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York, a Democrat, said in a statement.
Environmental groups praised the new U.S. goal, although many had been urging the Biden administration to pledge even deeper cuts in emissions.”
Launched on June 1, 2017 by the governors of Washington, New York, and California to help fill the void left by President Trump’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 net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 26-28% by 2025, 50-52% by 2030, and 61-66% 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 demonstrate that climate action goes hand-in-hand with economic growth, job creation, and better public health. The Alliance reduced its collective net greenhouse gas emissions by 19% between 2005 and 2022, while increasing collective GDP by 30%, and is on track to meet its near-term climate goal by reducing collective GHG emissions 26% below 2005 levels by 2025. 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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