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BAKU, AZERBAIJAN — On the heels of the U.S. presidential election, the U.S. Climate Alliance led a delegation last week to the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan, where founding member Washington Governor Jay Inslee and top state officials from California, New Mexico, and Maryland, reaffirmed America’s commitment to achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement through bold and sustained state-led climate action.
The Alliance is a bipartisan coalition of 24 governors – representing approximately 60 percent of the U.S. economy and 55 percent of the U.S. population – all committed to securing America’s net-zero future.
“I’m here to say the states are an unstoppable force,” said Governor Inslee at an Alliance-organized COP29 event. “We remain undiminished in our ambition.”
This message was reiterated by top federal officials during COP29.
“We are not going back,” said U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm at another Alliance event. “No matter who is in the White House, we are moving on this clean energy transition.”
The Alliance, which was founded in 2017 after then-President Trump announced his intention to pull the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement, is uniquely positioned to lead in this moment and Biden-Harris administration leaders noted the coalition’s strength and growth at events during COP29.
“Governor Inslee talked about the 24 states that are part of the Alliance, but now rewind to when he and others launched the Climate Alliance – it wasn’t that big,” said Assistant to the President and White House National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi during a fireside chat with Governor Inslee hosted by the Alliance. “Think about the expansion of the coalition that’s taken place over the last four years and the depth of it. You’ve got now legislatures lined up with more and more governors giving them the ability to run far and run fast.”
In addition to the fireside chat featuring Governor Inslee and White House National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi co-hosted with America Is All In, the Alliance hosted an event spotlighting the strength and durability of subnational climate leadership at the U.S. Center with America Is All In, U.S. Green Building Council, and ICLEI USA, and for the third year running, a discussion among top women leaders representing the Alliance and America Is All In.
Alliance Managing Director Taryn Finnessey also spoke at an event at the U.S. Center organized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency highlighting unprecedented progress in addressing U.S. methane emissions and the finalization of a rule to reduce wasteful methane emissions and drive innovation in the oil and gas sector.
Earlier this month, after the election, the Alliance partnered with the country’s other top subnational climate action coalitions – America Is All In and Climate Mayors – and issued a joint statement clearly asserting: “We will not turn back.” The Alliance also issued statements from its co-chairs – New York Governor Kathy Hochul and New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham – affirming that governors will tap every ounce of their experience and authority to protect America’s progress and press forward.
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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