Taking It to the States: Governors are at the forefront of the battle to address climate change.

• Author: Johnson, Sharon
• Position: United States Climate Alliance

The year 2021 was a banner year for states determined to take action on the climate emergency. Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, a Republican, issued an executive order that requires state agencies to buy zero-emissions vehicles beginning in 2022 and to double the amount of electric vehicle chargers installed in all state facilities by 2030.

Illinois passed legislation to achieve 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2045, the first state in the Midwest to adopt such a bold target. Along with customer protections and transparency requirements, the legislation guarantees job training to ensure a diverse workforce in the industry.

Hawaii established a sustainable aviation fuel program to provide matching grants to any small business in the state that is developing products that reduce emissions from commercial aviation operations.

These are just three of the dozens of actions taken by members of the U.S. Climate Alliance, a bipartisan coalition of twenty-five governors committed to achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement.

The alliance was founded in 2017 by three Democratic governors after the Trump Administration withdrew the United States from the Paris Agreement. In 2015, more than 190 nations had agreed to keep global temperature rise in the twenty-first century well below two degrees Celsius--and preferably, 1.5 degrees--above preindustrial levels.

Governors Jerry Brown of California, Andrew Cuomo of New York, and Jay Inslee of Washington were concerned that the lack of federal leadership would increase the risk of droughts, heat waves, rising sea levels, and other catastrophic consequences of global warming. By sharing strategies and working across state lines, the governors aimed high.

These three states also had the necessary clout to institute and carry out policies. California is the nation's largest state economy, followed by Texas and New York, while Washington has more STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) workers than any other state.

Seventeen governors joined the alliance the first year. Now there are twenty-five, mostly from blue states on the East and West Coasts and the Upper Midwest.

In May 2021, the alliance welcomed Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards, a Democrat who championed a climate initiative to ensure that Louisiana would become a net-zero greenhouse gas state by 2050.

Individually and collectively, the alliance members have made reducing greenhouse gasses a top priority, as they should: The...