{"id":14267,"date":"2021-01-27T11:45:37","date_gmt":"2021-01-27T11:45:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=155109"},"modified":"2021-01-27T11:45:37","modified_gmt":"2021-01-27T11:45:37","slug":"25-states-promised-to-stay-in-the-paris-agreement-did-they-follow-through","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/01\/27\/25-states-promised-to-stay-in-the-paris-agreement-did-they-follow-through\/","title":{"rendered":"25 states promised to stay in the Paris Agreement. Did they follow through?"},"content":{"rendered":"
Four years ago, just hours after former President Donald Trump promised to pull the United States out of the Paris Agreement<\/a>, the governors of California, Washington, and New York announced the formation<\/a> of the \u201cU.S. Climate Alliance\u201d \u2014 a group of states committed to following through on the country\u2019s broken promises. \u201cIf the president is going to be AWOL in this profoundly important human endeavor,\u201d Governor Jerry Brown of California said at the time, \u201cthen California and other states will step up.\u201d<\/p>\n Today, the alliance boasts 24 states and one territory: Puerto Rico. All have vowed to collectively cut emissions 26 to 28 percent by 2025, compared to 2005 levels. Many have set ambitious goals to cover their states in wind turbines, electrify cars and trucks, and slash the amount of dangerous pollutants in the air. With President Joe Biden in the White House, and with the U.S. back in the Paris Agreement, hopes are high for action on the climate crisis. But the states\u2019 struggles over the past four years demonstrate that it may be a long road ahead.<\/p>\n Most of the states that have promised sweeping emissions cuts by 2025 \u2014 which include the U.S. Climate Alliance members and the state of Louisiana \u2014 are still off-track to meet the U.S. commitment under the Paris Agreement, according to an analysis by the Environmental Defense Fund<\/a> released last month. The study, based on data from the research firm Rhodium Group, found that if the country recovers fairly quickly from COVID-19, U.S. emissions in those states would only fall 18 percent by 2025, missing the goal of cutting emissions by 26 percent.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not really the states\u2019 fault. Over the past four years, governors and state legislators have been swimming against the tide, trying to pass legislation and issuing executive orders even as the Environmental Protection Agency and the president openly worked to block their efforts.<\/p>\n \u201cI would say that states are doing as well as they can, given the difficult circumstances,\u201d said Jeff Mauk, executive director of the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators. \u201cThey had a federal government that was hostile to their efforts to act on climate.\u201d<\/p>\n