Resources From the State House to the White House: Progress on Climate, Justice, and Jobs

This page was last updated on August 26, 2022.

States, local governments, and tribal nations have been taking meaningful action to confront the climate crisis, advance environmental justice, and ensure that more of the jobs building a 100 percent clean energy economy are high-quality union positions. In recent years, there have been key breakthroughs at the state level—including policies that light the path for Congress and the administration to follow through both executive and legislative action.

Twenty-five states and territories—representing a majority of the U.S. population—are committed to the greenhouse gas emissions reductions goals of the Paris climate agreement through the bipartisan U.S. Climate Alliance. Since 2015, 17 states as well as Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., have taken action on 100 percent clean energy agendas, according to a recent report from the Clean Energy States Alliance. Progress has occurred in blue, red, and purple states alike: In 25 key states tracked by the Energy Foundation, 2019 and 2020 saw 218 policy victories for clean energy in state legislatures and public utility commissions, compared with only 17 setbacks. This progress followed 2017, 2018, and 2019 state elections that saw numerous climate leaders elected to statewide office and state legislatures.

States, along with local governments and tribal nations, have made important strides in areas from renewable energy deployment and conservation of public lands to environmental justice and support for high-quality clean energy jobs. According to an analysis for the U.S. Climate Alliance conducted by the Rhodium Group, 133,000 clean energy jobs were created in alliance states between 2016 and 2019, at a growth rate of nearly 7 percent—far outpacing the national economywide job growth rate during this same period.

Now, the lessons of climate leadership must travel from the state house to the White House. The Biden administration and Congress should draw from states’ experience implementing transformative policies on the ground and should engage states’ existing advocacy coalitions. Crucially, they should also pursue a policy and investment agenda that directly engages states and further empowers state and local governments to continue their climate leadership. For their part, the same advocates and lawmakers who have fought to make this progress happen across states now need to help guide the federal government.

The Center for American Progress, along with the League of Conservation Voters and other partners, launched the From the State House to the White House initiative in 2020 and are curating a series of materials to uplift the successes and voices of state, tribal, and local governments, policy experts, and advocates:

• How States and Cities Can Benefit From Climate Investments in the Inflation Reduction Act, Center for American Progress, August 25, 2022
  This issue brief describes how state and local governments will receive financial and technical support from the Biden administration to help them achieve success under the Inflation Reduction Act, but how they must also be prepared to create ambitious programs in their communities.
• Event: Stateside Chat: Michigan Making Moves, Center for American Progress, May 24, 2022
  This virtual event features keynote remarks by National Climate Adviser Gina McCarthy, followed by CAP President and CEO Patrick Gaspard in conversation with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI). Sam Ricketts, senior fellow at CAP, moderated a panel discussion with Cindy Estrada of United Auto Workers, Carolina Martinez of the Environmental Health Coalition, and Terry Travis of EVNoire. The discussion highlighted the importance of a unionized workforce and environmental justice advocacy in the transition to electric vehicles, and the extensive progress made both in Michigan and at the federal level in decarbonizing transportation, especially through the bipartisan infrastructure law.
• How States Can Use the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law To Enhance Their Climate Action Efforts, Center for American Progress, March 23, 2022
  This report describes how states can leverage various programs in the bipartisan infrastructure law to get closer to meeting their emissions reduction targets.
• Fighting Climate Change, From Capitol Hill to City Hall: How 8 States and Cities Are Mobilizing Whole-of-Government Climate Action, Center for American Progress, January 26, 2022
  This report details case studies from six states and two cities to help inform how the United States can enact a whole-of-government approach to climate action.
• A Single Courageous State: Climate, Jobs, and Justice, Episode 4, Center for American Progress, September 17, 2021
  In this video, state Sen. Chloe Maxmin and state Rep. Scott Cuddy discuss Maine’s clean energy progress, just transition, lessons learned for federal policymakers, and more.
• A Single Courageous State: Climate, Jobs, and Justice, Episode 3, Center for American Progress, September 10, 2021
  In this video, Sean O’Leary of the Ohio River Valley Institute, Nancy Hirsh of the Centralia Coal Transition Board, and Emmett Pepper of Energy Efficient West Virginia discuss how the retirement of a coal plant successfully led to local economic development and how the Centralia model can apply to other communities.
• A Single Courageous State: Climate, Jobs, and Justice, Episode 2, Center for American Progress, July 20, 2021
  In this video, state Rep. Kam Buckner (D-IL) discusses his state’s ongoing efforts to enact a 100 percent clean energy standard, reduce transportation pollution, lower utility bills, and meet the environmental justice mandate.
• A Single Courageous State: Climate, Jobs, and Justice, Episode 1, Center for American Progress, July 9, 2021
  In this video, Rep. Jamie Long discusses Minnesota’s recent progress on clean vehicles, energy efficiency standards, the Line 3 pipeline, just transition, and environmental justice, as well as what’s next.
• The Clean Economy Revolution Will Be Unionized, Center for American Progress, July 7, 2021
  This report analyzes how individual state and local governments have expanded new and existing clean energy industries, while advancing labor standards, the right to organize, collective bargaining, and equitable access to well-paying jobs.
• Event: The Clean Economy Revolution Will be Unionized, Center for American Progress, July 7, 2021
  This virtual event features John Podesta, founder and chair of the Board of Directors of CAP, in conversation with Liz Shuler, secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO. The discussion highlights the important role for federal, state, and local governments to ensure that jobs in the clean energy economy can be family-supporting union jobs.
• Learning From California’s Ambitious Climate Policy, Center for American Progress, April 16, 2021
  This report describes California’s whole-of-government approach to climate policy and how the Biden administration can translate the state’s successes to the federal level.
• Three things Biden can do to unleash state and local climate action, The Hill, March 18, 2021
  This op-ed outlines suggestions for the Biden administration to leverage partnerships with state, local, and tribal leaders in order to confront the climate crisis.
• Mapping Environmental Justice in the Biden-Harris Administration, Center for American Progress, February 4, 2021
  This report analyzes California’s environmental justice screening tool, CalEnviroScreen, which uses data, metrics, and technology to help allocate climate action resources to disadvantaged communities.
• The Biden Administration Brings State Climate Leadership to the White House, Center for American Progress, January 19, 2021
  This issue brief lauds President Joe Biden’s picks for his climate Cabinet and notes that a number of them have state climate leadership credentials that will help inform their time in federal service.
• The secret weapon in Biden’s fight against climate change, The Hill, November 14, 2020
  This op-ed highlights the groundswell of support for climate action across state, local, and tribal governments and how the Biden administration can build off their progress.
• State Climate Leadership Is Coming to the Nation’s Capital in 2021, Center for American Progress, November 9, 2020
  This column analyzes a number of critical national election results from states with strong climate, justice, and clean energy policies, making the case that state climate leadership is headed to Washington, D.C.
• States Are Laying a Road Map for Climate Leadership, Center for American Progress, April 30, 2020
  This issue brief summarizes climate, environmental justice, and labor successes across power, transportation, building, and other sectors at the state level.