State governments could play a major role in cutting the nation’s planet-warming emissions, especially with Congress unable to unify on any major actions, according to public policy experts still stinging from Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.Va.) decision last week to back away from action.
While Manchin’s decision was a serious setback that likely dooms any action on climate by Congress, it doesn’t mean meaningful cuts to emissions can’t be made.
It’s just that they’ll have to come from state, county and city governments.
Sam Ricketts, a senior fellow at the liberal Center for American Progress think tank, said he sees a few different areas where states can step up their ambition.
Like what? These include requiring shifts to electric vehicles, mandating clean energy use for electricity and electrifying new buildings.
State and city governments working with private business can get a “good amount” of the way toward President Biden’s goal of cutting emissions in half by 2030 compared to 2005 levels, said Nathan Hultman, a public policy professor at the University of Maryland who has served in the Biden and Obama administrations.
“It would be a few percentage points away, probably, if it’s just cities, states and businesses,” he said.
Hultman said states might see “pressure from their own constituencies to revisit” their climate policies, including to “crank up the number” as a result of new scientific information and the political situation.
Cities, too: Madison, Wis., Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway (D) told The Hill that her city was working on initiatives including subsidizing solar energy, requiring buildings to report their energy use in the hopes of improving efficiency and partnering with a local utility to put chargers in public parking garages.
But state actions could limit what even mayors want to do on climate change. State laws can prevent mayors from taking certain actions, Rhodes-Conway said.
“In order to reduce the emissions footprint of buildings, we need to be making our new building stock as energy efficient and as low emission as possible, and right now, we can’t require that in the city of Madison because we’re preempted on building codes,” Rhodes-Conway said.
Read more about the role of cities and states here
