- In The News
- January 2024
USA Today: This state is quickly becoming America's clean energy paradise. Here's how it's happening.
January 27, 2024
USA Today dives into how Hawaiʻi is moving toward its 100% clean energy goal.
“Americans don’t have to imagine what it’s like to live someplace that’s aggressively switching to 100% clean energy, where 1 in 3 people have rooftop solar, 15% of new cars are electric and giant batteries store energy for use when the sun goes down.
They just have to go to Hawaii.
Hawaii pledged to be “Coal free by ’23,” and state law requires 100% clean energy in just 21 years. Attaining that goal came closer last month when an enormous 185-megawatt battery near Honolulu hummed into full operation.
‘If you’ve been to Hawaii, you’ve seen a renewable future – and it’s paradise,’ said Jeff Mikulina director of the Hawaii Climate Coalition and a board member of the Blue Planet Foundation.”
About the Alliance
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.
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