Coalition of local leaders defy Trump
Hours after President Donald Trump announced last year that the United States would exit the Paris climate deal, a broad group of governors, mayors and business executives declared that they would uphold the agreement anyway and continue tackling global warming on their own.
It was a striking move for a coalition of local leaders: Making a case to the rest of the world that they, and not the president, spoke for the nation on climate policy.
To date, however, that groundswell hasn’t been nearly enough to counteract the effects of the Trump administration’s retreat on climate policy. Now, as many of those same local leaders and executives gather for a high-level conference in San Francisco this week, the group they created finds itself at a critical juncture, the moment when it shows whether it can rise to the task.
“Yeah, there’s pressure” said Gov. Jerry Brown of California, one of the most visible faces of the movement, known as “We Are Still In.” State and local leaders “are carrying the flag while the big powers, the national guys, are rather somnolent.”
The gathering in San Francisco, which is spearheaded by Brown, will bring leaders and civil society groups from around the world to discuss ways that states, cities and businesses can work together to reduce their emissions.
The stakes are high. So far, 2018 is on track to be the fourth-hottest year on record worldwide. Deadly heat waves scorched all corners of the globe this summer and huge wildfires set California ablaze.
Scientists are warning that countries have delayed so long in cutting emissions that many long-predicted disruptions from global warming are now unavoidable.
“There’s a real push to make sure that this We Are Still In movement becomes something more than just a symbolic exercise,” said Gwynne Taraska, a senior fellow at Climate Advisers, a consulting firm. “This is an opportunity for them to cement their diplomatic relevance.”
Until now, local action on climate change in the United States has largely been led by a handful of blue states like California, the world’s fifth-largest economy.
On Monday, Brown signed a bill that would require California’s utilities to get 100 percent of their electricity from zerocarbon sources by 2045. He has also set a goal of putting 5 million electric cars on the road by 2030 while dedicating $2.5 billion to vehicle rebates and charging infrastructure.
Other states — like Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon and Washington — are racing to catch up.
More than 70 cities including Atlanta, Denver and Orlando, Fla., have signed onto a goal of buying enough renewable power to offset all of their electricity consumption.
Only 16 states and Puerto Rico have promised to uphold the Paris agreement. Most of those states are led by Democrats.
“That has been one of the great struggles,” said Jay Inslee, the Democratic governor of Washington and a co-chairman of the alliance. “But I can tell you that I am confident that the alliance will grow after this next election cycle.”
That assumes, though, that states like Florida, New Mexico or Maine will see a change in party control.