Politics

2023 State Climate Progress: Our Full List of Enacted Policies and Trends

The Policy Progress section of our biweekly newsletter shares newly enacted state climate policies, including legislation and executive branch regulations. Below is an archive of our Policy Progress updates from 2023 and four trends we’ve seen from the policies states...

EPA emblem filled with smoke
The Supreme Court Stripped EPA’s Power to Cut Emissions — How Can States Respond?

In a 6–3 ruling released Thursday, the Supreme Court struck down the EPA’s ability to broadly regulate emissions. This decision will make it exceedingly difficult for the United States to reduce its greenhouse gas pollution in time to avoid the...

Parking lot covered by solar panels which makes use of open space leading to emissions reduction.
How states can respond to the latest IPCC Report on Reducing Emissions 

Key Takeaways Greenhouse gas emissions are still increasing, and they must stop soon Low-emissions technology is getting more affordable We can’t afford any more fossil fuel infrastructure Some of the carbon in our atmosphere needs to go Policies need to be thoughtfully designed and effectively...

Statue of Thurgood Marshall in front of the Maryland State House
Maryland Sets a New Standard for State Climate Policy in 2022 Session

On Monday, April 11, 2022, at midnight, the Maryland General Assembly adjourned its 2022 legislative session with a few big wins for the environment. While several bills await the Governor’s signature, we already know that many environmental bills will become...

Environmental Protection Agency Logo with supreme court justices divided in red on one side and blue on the other.
What Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Appointment Could Mean for Climate Policy and the EPA

Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmed Ketanji Brown Jackson, President Biden’s nomination to the country’s highest court. Jackson will be the first Black female U.S. Supreme Court Justice, and take the place of retiring Justice Stephen Breyer. Since Jackson was...

Layered map of city streets near the mouth of a river
To Achieve Environmental Justice, States Need to First Define It

The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report stresses that our window of opportunity to secure a livable future is rapidly closing, with those most vulnerable to the changing climate being recognized as primarily belonging to low-income communities or...

Youth Climate Activism: The Next Generation of Climate Stakeholders

While the landscape of climate activism is always changing, recent years have seen a major influx of new voices into the climate movement – and they are much younger than what mainstream environmentalism is used to. Youth climate activism has...

What States Need to Know About The IPCC Report

Last week, U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released the second phase of the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report (AR6). The report asserts that the effects of climate change will continue to be felt throughout the world should we fail...

Green Eating in a (Hopefully) Green State

Have you heard that there’s another diet trending? Nope, this time it’s not the Keto diet, juice cleansing, intermittent fasting, the soda diet, or the millions of others that might come to mind. There’s one more to add to your...