Our Climate Moment Is Now! (Or How to Change the Story to Save Our World)

Abstract

The Trump Administration has expressed its intention to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement. However, may of the states and cities that together make up the United States have declared that they "are still in." This draft chapter for a forthcoming book by the Environmental Law Collaborative for the Environmental Law Institute discusses some of the steps that state and local decision-makers have taken toward deep decarbonization, and suggests that a zero-carbon future is attainable despite federal intransigence.

Keywords: zero carbon, net zero, deep decarbonization, climate change, federalism, climate justice, Paris Agreement, local government, state government, IPCC, NDC, just transition, renewable energy, sustainable energy

JEL Classification: K20, K32, Q54, Q55, Q, 42, Q48, Q58, H54, H75, H70