WASHINGTON, D.C. – One week after President Joe Biden moved to rejoin the Paris Agreement and the bipartisan United States Climate Alliance committed to forging a new kind of state-federal partnership to confront the climate crisis, Executive Director Julie Cerqueira today issued the following statement welcoming additional executive climate action from the Biden administration:
“In just a week, the new administration has forcefully backed many of its promises with swift action, real commitments, new staff, and sound science. This is a remarkable shift, but now comes the hard part. Averting climate catastrophe and rebuilding our country will take all of government and all of America, including the Alliance’s governors and states. Let’s get to work — together.”
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.
###
