WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the co-chairs of the U.S. Climate Alliance — California Governor Gavin Newsom and Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers — issued the following statement in response to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) repeal of a longstanding determination on the causes and harms of climate change:
“This action is unlawful, ignores basic science, and denies reality. We know greenhouse gases cause climate change and endanger our communities and our health — and we will not stop fighting to protect the American people from pollution.”
Today’s action by EPA rescinds the agency’s 2009 finding that greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide and methane, pose a threat to public health and welfare. This finding is based on decades of research and thousands of peer-reviewed publications. It was further affirmed by the federal government’s own Fourth National Climate Assessment, published during the first Trump administration, which found that evidence of human-caused climate change is “overwhelming” and that climate-related impacts “increasingly threaten the health and well-being of the American people” by increasing extreme weather, impacting air quality, spreading new diseases, and changing the availability of food and water, among other harms.
Additionally, EPA’s action eliminates all federal protections against greenhouse gas pollution from cars and trucks. This follows efforts by the federal government to dismantle state clean vehicle programs and weaken federal fuel economy standards. Transportation remains the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. and collectively across Alliance states and territories. Last year, a group of Alliance governors launched the Affordable Clean Cars Coalition — a growing state-led partnership to help sustain America’s transition to cleaner and more affordable cars.
In September, the Alliance’s members filed comments with the EPA, detailing how this move abandons EPA’s legal obligations under the Clean Air Act, ignores the scientific consensus on greenhouse gases and climate change, and threatens great harm to Americans.
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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