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WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Climate Alliance, a bipartisan coalition of governors representing approximately 60 percent of the U.S. economy and 55 percent of the U.S. population, today celebrated the two-year anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the largest investment in climate action in our nation’s history.
“The Inflation Reduction Act has unleashed the single largest climate and clean energy investment in U.S. history, including directing hundreds of millions of dollars to support home electrification here in New York,” said New York Governor and Alliance co-chair Kathy Hochul. “Thanks to the Biden-Harris administration, this investment is making real progress to transition to a green economy, create family-sustaining jobs, and build clean and healthy communities where future generations can thrive.”
“The Inflation Reduction Act is a rocket booster for state-led climate action and we’re just getting started,” said New Mexico Governor and Alliance co-chair Michelle Lujan Grisham. “In communities large and small, urban and rural, governors are slashing climate pollution, lowering home energy and transportation costs, and creating more good-paying jobs.”
To mark the anniversary, the Alliance also released a new video spotlighting how Governor Roy Cooper, one of the coalition’s longest-serving members, is leveraging the historic IRA to make North Carolina the epicenter of America’s clean energy boom.
Across the Alliance, governors are leveraging IRA resources to accelerate climate action. Last month, Alliance members collectively secured approximately $2.6. billion to implement ambitious measures that deliver significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and substantial community benefits under the Climate Pollution Reduction Grants (CPRG) program. This included grants to help states accelerate the adoption of heat pumps, deploy EV charging infrastructure and clean energy, sequester carbon through conservation, decarbonize food systems, buildings, and industry, and more. Every Alliance state and territory participated in the initial phase of the CPRG program, collectively securing more than $70 million to develop priority climate action plans.
Additionally, earlier this year, 23 of the Alliance’s members collectively secured approximately $2.9 billion under the Biden administration’s Solar for All program, which enables low-income households across America to access residential solar power — and save money and energy, boost resilience, improve health, and create quality jobs. Governors across the Alliance are also utilizing IRA funding to launch home new energy rebate programs that help families lower their home energy bills and increase energy efficiency, including in Wisconsin and New York.
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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