The U.S. Climate Alliance, a bipartisan coalition of 24 governors, has recommitted itself to protecting the climate in the face of potential regulatory rollbacks by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the impending administration of president-elect Donald Trump.
“The U.S. Climate Alliance and its governors filled the void of leadership during President-elect Trump’s first term and Americans can be assured we’re prepared to fill it again,” said New York Governor Kathy Hochul, Co-Chair of the Alliance, in a statement. “Together, we’ll tap every ounce of our experience and authority to protect America’s progress and press forward.”
“We’re not alone in this fight – we stand shoulder-to-shoulder with hundreds of cities, Tribes, businesses, and institutions that are fiercely committed to protecting our climate and delivering a better, healthier future for America,” said New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, the other Alliance Co-Chair. “Governors have a decades-long track record of advancing innovative, effective climate solutions and we won’t be deterred by the result of this or any other election. No matter the obstacles, our commitment will not waver, and our progress will not be stopped.”
The U.S. Climate Alliance was launched on June 1, 2017, by the governors of Washington, New York, and California to help fill the void left by the previous Trump administration’s decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement. Consisting of the governors of 22 U.S. states, Guam and Puerto Rico, the Alliance represents nearly 55% of the U.S. population and 60% of the U.S. economy.
During his campaign, Trump vowed to withdraw again from the Paris climate accord. He has long rejected climate science, sometimes calling global warming a “hoax,” according to the Washington Post.
The Trump-linked 2025 Presidential Transition Project – known as Project 2025 – recommends in its section on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that a future Republican administration repeal Biden-Harris administration HFC regulations authorized by the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act “that are unnecessarily stringent and costly.”
Several Alliance states, most notably California, Washington and New York have pursued regulations to aggressively restrict HFC emissions, in some cases enacting rules that are stricter than those of the AIM Act. The North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council (NASRC) has published an interactive map showing the refrigeration initiatives of U.S. Climate Alliance states.
In his 2024 campaign, Trump pledged to rescind unspent funds earmarked for heat pump incentives and other climate provisions contained in the Inflation Reduction Act, according to many media reports. Last year the Alliance committed to quadrupling the number of heat pumps installed inside its represented states to reach 20 million units by 2030.
In 2019, Julia Cerqueira, then Executive Director of the Alliance (and currently Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of International Affairs at the U.S. Department of Energy), encouraged ATMOsphere America conference attendees to educate state and federal legislators on the importance of using natural refrigerants in refrigeration to reduce HFC emissions. ATMOsphere America is organized by ATMOsphere, publisher of NaturalRefrigerants.com.
No turning back
Last month, the Alliance released its annual report, “No Turning Back: America’s Governors Confronting the Climate Crisis & Building a Brighter Future.” Notably, the report said that between 2005 and 2022, Alliance members reduced collective net greenhouse gas emissions by 19%, while increasing gross domestic product by 30%.
This report highlights the Alliance’s recent progress and provides dozens of examples of how the coalition’s member states and territories “are raising ambition, while advancing, sharing, and scaling the most impactful climate solutions.”
“The coalition’s states and territories are employing more workers in the clean energy sector, achieving lower levels of dangerous air pollutants, and preparing more effectively for climate impacts and executing more pre-disaster planning than the rest of the country,” the Alliance said.
Governors in the Alliance have pledged to collectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 26–28% below 2005 levels by 2025 and at least 50–52% below 2005 levels by 2030 and collectively achieve overall net-zero greenhouse gas emissions as soon as practicable, though no later than 2050.
From November 11–22, the Alliance is leading a delegation of state leaders to the UN Climate Change Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan. “Together, the delegation will strongly affirm America’s sustained commitment to working with the global community to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement,” said the Alliance in a statement.
“The U.S. Climate Alliance and its governors filled the void of leadership during President-elect Trump’s first term and Americans can be assured we’re prepared to fill it again.”
New York Governor Kathy Hochul, Co-Chair of the U.S. Climate Alliance
