Why is it important for U.S. states to reduce greenhouse gas pollution?
If U.S. states were nations they would comprise 30 of the top 75 world emitters, so their actions have a significant worldwide impact on reducing emissions. Southeastern states alone comprise ten of the top 50 world emitters. Because U.S. states also constitute some of the largest economic markets on earth (California is the firth largest world economy) their actions have vast impacts as they affect market decisions across borders. In addition, our most effective national environmental laws in the U.S. have typically been led by state actions, and followed by federal response (such as the federal Clean Air Act), so states play a key role in fostering upward evolution of national law and policy. As they provide leadership and guidance to our Congress and President, states are able to bring forward real lessons learned and success stories from their experimentation with policies, testing of implementation, and resolution of potential conflicts with energy and economic issues.
