Washington, DC—Many states are taking actions to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, according to a report released today by the Pew Center on Global Climate Change. Despite the controversy associated with climate change policy on the national level, state action on climate change has been intensifying since the late 1990s. States have taken a variety of approaches to climate change, including the promotion of renewable energy, air pollution controls, energy development, and solutions in the agriculture, forestry, transportation, and waste management sectors. The Pew Center report, Greenhouse & Statehouse: The Evolving State Government Role in Climate Change, authored by Barry Rabe of the University of Michigan, features case studies of nine states—Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas, and Wisconsin—that have taken action to mitigate climate change. The report tracks trends in state climate change action and draws conclusions about the potential of state action and its implications for national policy. The case studies illustrate that state actions on climate change play a unique role in overall climate change governance. The United States comprises diverse regions, and individual state policies can be tailored to each state’s strengths. State policies have the potential to spread among states, as is occurring already with several of the programs featured in the report. Successful state actions can become prototypes for federal programs. Despite finding advantages to climate change action at the state level, the report points out that states also face limitations. States have little (or no) funding available for climate change initiatives, and face constitutional limits on engagement in international relations. In addition, some states have shown scarce interest in climate change action; in fact, some have taken formal steps to limit it. Finally, a fragmented, state-by-state approach to climate policy will inherently be less efficient than a national policy. “These state initiatives are achieving real reductions and are opportunities for learning, but they should not be viewed as a substitute for a comprehensive national policy that includes mandatory measures,” said Eileen Claussen, President of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change. “The report shows that addressing climate change is not only possible, but can be done in a manner that is bipartisan and consistent with regional economic development goals. Policy-makers would do well to be mindful of their successes as they work toward federal and international programs, and actively involve states in their design and implementation.” Measures that have proven controversial at the federal level, such as renewable portfolio standards and mandatory reporting of greenhouse gas emissions, have been implemented successfully at the state level. Climate change action at the state level has frequently been a bipartisan effort, and climate change mitigation is often complementary to other goals that states want to achieve. Part of Solutions Series The report, Greenhouse and Statehouse: The Evolving State Government Role in Climate Change, is part of the Solutions series, which is aimed at providing individuals and organizations with tools to evaluate and reduce their contributions to climate change. Other Pew Center series focus on domestic and international policy issues, environmental impacts, and the economics of climate change. A complete copy of this report—and previous reports—is available on the Pew Center’s web site, www.pewclimate.org.

Climate Change

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