Tags
- Letter
U.S. Climate Alliance Outlines Federal Stimulus Recommendations
July 21, 2020
COVID-19 has caused a public health crisis, unprecedented job losses, and a national recession that requires further bold action to provide relief and achieve a resilient and equitable recovery. The U.S. Climate Alliance has outlined actions that can ensure essential state services are uninterrupted and states can begin the recovery process. Specifically, we recommend that Congress direct:
- at least $500 billion in immediate, flexible federal aid for states and territories, in addition to separate aid for local government;
- additional flexible funding to modernize, decarbonize, and enhance the resilience of our nation’s infrastructure; and
- incentives to mobilize private investment and create public-private partnerships.
The current crisis demands a comprehensive, strategic, and equitable response. By preserving core state and local government services, revitalizing our nation’s critical infrastructure, mobilizing private investment, and creating family-sustaining jobs, governors outline how to do this in a way that puts us on a path to economic recovery and addresses the ever-growing climate crisis.
About the Alliance
Launched on June 1, 2017 by the governors of Washington, New York, and California to help fill the void left by President Trump’s initial 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 will 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 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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