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WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Climate Alliance — a bipartisan coalition of 25 governors representing approximately 60 percent of the U.S. economy and 55 percent of the U.S. population — today announced that Washington Governor and founding member Jay Inslee and Maine Governor Janet Mills have been appointed co-chairs of the Alliance. They will also join California Governor Gavin Newsom, and co-chairs elect New York Governor Kathy Hochul and New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham on the Alliance’s executive committee charged with overseeing the strategic direction of the coalition.
“Today, the U.S. Climate Alliance is taking another step forward in our work to tackle the climate crisis together,” said Alliance co-chairs Governors Mills and Inslee. “We’re proud to lead a coalition that’s making our health, our economy, and our future better through bold, collective climate action.”
Since the Alliance was launched in 2017, it has been led by the governors of the coalition’s founding states — California, New York, and Washington. Today’s announcement marks the first expansion of the coalition’s leadership to include non-founding-state members serving as co-chair and co-chair elect. The Alliance’s leaders were elected by the coalition’s members and will serve in these roles until the Alliance’s semiannual meeting next spring.
“For nearly six years, our founding state members have led our coalition with great purpose and determination, and we’re thrilled to now expand and diversify our leadership with the addition of Governors Mills and Lujan Grisham to chart our next chapter,” said U.S. Climate Alliance Executive Director Casey Katims.
Today’s announcement comes as top officials from the Alliance’s states and territories conclude a week in Washington, D.C. for the coalition’s semiannual spring meeting. Yesterday, these officials also joined a White House convening focused on state and federal efforts to decarbonize buildings — an effort that builds on previous state-federal partnerships facilitated by the Alliance.
In addition to naming new leadership, the Alliance is also growing and diversifying its membership. This year the coalition has welcomed six new governors, including Governors Maura Healey (Massachusetts), Josh Green (Hawaiʻi), Tina Kotek (Oregon), Wes Moore (Maryland), and Josh Shapiro (Pennsylvania), who continued their states’ membership in the Alliance, and Governor Lou Leon Guerrero, who made Guam the second U.S. territory to join the coalition.
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 collective greenhouse gas emissions by 19%, Alliance members increased their collective GDP by 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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