2023 Shifts States' Climate Policy Approaches

Minnesota Democrats, newly in control of the state government, began 2023 by enacting a clean electricity standard. Michigan lawmakers followed suit months later — as one of their final acts before gaveling out for the year.

The two laws were bookends to a year of climate action, experts say, as Democratic state officials advanced major policies that climate hawks could once only dream of.

State officials committed serious money and political capital to cleaning up the electricity sector — the backbone of the energy transition — while also boosting electric vehicles, restricting gas in new buildings, and building factories to manufacture batteries and other clean technology. Climate activists hope such actions ripple out nationwide, as the U.S. lags in its goal of halving emissions by 2030.

While some states took steps to boost oil and gas, or turned down federal funds for clean energy, such setbacks were the exception, not the rule, said Sonia Aggarwal, CEO of the climate policy firm Energy Innovation: Policy and Technology.

“We’re not talking about broad, sweeping programs that take us backwards,” said Aggarwal, who was formerly a White House climate aide to President Joe Biden. “On the whole, it’s really been kind of a banner year for clean energy policy in the states.”

The turnaround was seeded last year, when Congress passed $369 billion for clean energy programs in the Inflation Reduction Act. Then, in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning federal abortion rights, Democrats overperformed in the midterm elections to hold or flip key state capitols.

Those officials took power just as unprecedented federal climate money began flowing to states. That dovetailed with an equally important, but less tangible, change: Democrats got more aggressive.

Controlling each statehouse by a single vote, Minnesota and Michigan Democrats defied Republican warnings that major climate legislation would spark a backlash after a year of high energy prices. Instead, swing-state Democrats treated climate action as an electoral asset.

Polling has long pointed to strong public support for more renewable energy, but Democrats have often hesitated to risk higher prices or disruptive mandates. The falling cost of renewable energy (especially relative to fossil fuels) has eased that reluctance.

And with the fresh example of voters rewarding Democrats for embracing progressive fights on abortion, some state lawmakers said they felt emboldened to push further on popular climate policies, too.

“Abortion changed the political landscape for Democrats,” said Michigan House Speaker Pro Tempore Laurie Pohutsky. “I think that was the first instance of us just taking the public at their word about what they wanted — and not worrying about pushing things too far.”

When Michigan lawmakers faced Republican and industry pushback over their climate package, Pohutsky said, Democrats looked to abortion as a road map: They defended their policies using some traditionally conservative messages, like property rights and energy independence, and trusted polling that showed voters generally supported their agenda.

“It was just kind of a matter of getting out of our own way,” Pohutsky said.

Source: governorsbiofuelscoalition.org

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