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Opinion piece by: Alli Gold Roberts, Senior Director of State Policy, Ceres
“According to the U.S. Climate Alliance, a bipartisan coalition of 25 governors committed to reducing the pollution that is dangerously warming the planet, those states are collectively on track to hit their 2025 climate goals — a 26 percent reduction in pollution from its peak in 2005.
There’s still a long way to go, but these states are proving that robust climate policy works. What’s more, they aren’t making any economic sacrifices. In fact, they are achieving much of their policy success with the strong backing of the business community, as companies and investors increasingly realize that climate change is a major risk to their operations and that its solutions present vast economic opportunities.
State policymakers aren’t slowing down. As crucial federal policies and growing ambition in the private sector unleash a surge in clean energy investment across the country, states took strong action in 2023 to further seize this opportunity.”
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 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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