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“’Under the Inflation Reduction Act, the U.S. is going to be making the most significant climate investments in our nation’s history,’ Casey Katims, the executive director of the U.S. Climate Alliance, said.
Katims outlined some of the things that Lujan Grisham has pushed for as governor such as increasing the number of electric vehicles, conserving land, setting in place a goal to reach zero emission electricity, modernizing the grid and working to limit methane emissions from oil and gas.
Katims said that the Inflation Reduction Act, which is often considered a federal bill, is a state climate bill in many ways. He said that means state leadership is important to its implementation.
“’We’re the second largest oil and gas producer in the United States,’ Lujan Grisham said about New Mexico. ‘So we’re in a very interesting juxtaposition.’”
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 emissions by 18% between 2005 and 2021, Alliance members grew their collective GDP by nearly 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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