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Nine U.S. States Create Climate Alliance to Fight Climate Change

June 5, 2017

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June 5, 2017 – The backlash to President Donald Trump’s announcement to pull out of the non-binding Paris Climate Agreement displays the determination of sub-jurisdictions within the country to step up and deal with the climate change challenge. Right now the count is 9 for the states that have formed the Climate Alliance. They include California, New York, Massachusetts, Washington, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, Oregon, and Hawaii. They collectively represent 25% of the country’s population and 30% of its annual GDP.

But the 9 are far from alone. Ten more states are expected to join along with 187 majors from major U.S. cities who have formed the Climate Mayors led by Los Angeles, Boston, New York and Chicago.

Michal Bloomberg, special envoy to the United Nations for cities and climate change, and former New York City mayor announced that his philanthropic organization will foot the $15 million financial obligation to remain within the Paris Agreement. Stated Bloomberg, “Americans will honor and fulfill the Paris Agreement by leading from the bottom up, and there isn’t anything Washington can do to stop us.”

With the majority of regulation impacting the environment within sub-jurisdictions such as states, counties, and cities, this growing initiative that Bloomberg describes as coming from the bottom up, intends to meet former President Obama’s original targets of a 26% greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction by 2025 from levels reached in 2005.

No one as of yet can measure the fallout from Trump’s announcement of last week. Because the Paris Agreement was non-binding, there was little reason to justify abandoning it. The American federal government could have simply altered the reduction targets without penalty.

But now the rest of the nations of the world see the task ahead as harder because the second largest GHG polluter is no longer opted in. What are the consequences? Trump may find carbon levies added to American products shipped overseas. These taxes when imposed could stifle trade and damage American businesses irreparably. Consider that Europe imports $400 billion in goods and services from the U.S. annually. A tax of between 6 and 10% would add $25 to 40 billion to the cost of doing business.

Trump’s “Made in America” manifesto may soon become “Made and Sold only in America” as other nations bent on solving the climate change problem exercise a negative response to the American administration.

What will be interesting is to see how quickly the Climate Alliance grows and how states within the organization act independently of the federal government in building climate and trade relationships with the rest of the world.