Today, to mark the United States’ return to the Paris Agreement, thousands of non-federal climate leaders launched America is All In, a coalition to drive a society-wide mobilization for bold climate ambition to uphold the country’s commitment to domestic and international climate action. Already the most expansive coalition of U.S. leaders ever assembled in support of climate action, America Is All In is led by Michael R. Bloomberg, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Climate Ambition and Solutions, Washington Governor Jay Inslee, Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles, and CommonSpirit Health CEO Lloyd H. Dean.
“Over the last four years, Americans from across the country have continued pushing forward and cutting emissions, because they understand that fighting climate change strengthens our economy and protects people’s health. They’ve kept us on track to reach our Paris Agreement commitment, and with a strong partner in the White House, we can exceed it,” said Mike Bloomberg. “We have a lot of work to do, and the more we support cities, states, businesses, and climate leaders across the country, the faster we can make progress. That’s the goal of our new coalition, and we’re looking forward to working with the new administration to build on the progress we’ve made and accelerate it in the lead-up to the COP26 climate summit this November.”
America Is All In builds on the leadership shown by the nearly 5,000 cities, states, tribal nations, businesses, and institutions of higher education, faith, healthcare, and culture that rallied to keep the U.S. on a path of climate progress during the Trump Administration. The coalition will work across sectors—together with the federal government—to not only meet, but to bolster existing U.S. climate goals and align them with science-based targets, accelerating institutional and regional climate action and enabling the Biden-Harris administration to present to the global community a new, ambitious, and achievable national target of reducing emissions at least 50% from a 2005 baseline by 2030.
“With the U.S. back in the Paris Agreement, states and local governments are excited to partner with a President who has put climate and environmental justice at the core of his agenda,” said Governor Jay Inslee of Washington State, co-founder and co-chair of US Climate Alliance. “Together, we will take an all-hands-on-deck approach to build a clean energy future that creates good jobs for Americans, and invests in building a healthy future for communities that have borne the brunt of environmental and economic harms from fossil fuel pollution and climate change. States like mine will continue to lead the way and by combining forces with federal leadership, not only can we cut America’s emissions in half by 2030 but we can and must achieve net zero pollution by 2050.”
“I am honored to serve as co-chair of America Is All In and to support ambitious and critical emission reductions goals,” said Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles. “Cities have been at the forefront of climate action over the past several years and, as progressive leaders, we must continue to play an integral role in building a healthier, more equitable, and resilient future.”
“CommonSpirit Health’s vision of health equity is tied to our common vision for a healthier planet,” said Lloyd H. Dean, CEO of CommonSpirit Health. “We know that a cleaner economy protects the health of our patients, our people and our communities, especially those who are most at risk from climate change. Today, as we are planning our recovery from our current public health crisis, we have an opportunity to create a healthier future. As part of this powerful coalition, we are proud to help represent the voice of healthcare and to encourage health care providers across the country to think critically about their climate impact. Together, we can all advance climate action for a healthier future.”
White House National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy and U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry welcomed the coalition’s “whole-of-society” approach and have shown early interest in working with subnational and non-state actors as the Biden Administration deploys a “whole-of-government” strategy to tackle the climate crisis.
America Is All In represents a merging and evolution of We Are Still In and America’s Pledge. Over the last four years, We Are Still In—coordinated through Ceres, Climate Nexus, and World Wildlife Fund, with the support of over a dozen other non-profit organizations—has united thousands of cities, states, tribal nations, companies, colleges, health, faith and cultural institutions committed to ambitious climate action. Meanwhile, America’s Pledge—a Bloomberg Philanthropies initiative co-led by Rocky Mountain Institute and the University of Maryland Center for Global Sustainability with significant contributions from World Resources Institute—has quantified and reported on the actions of these leaders to drive down their greenhouse gas emissions consistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement.
In addition to advocating for an ambitious and achievable U.S. Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) ahead of COP26, America Is All In will champion the participation of U.S. subnational stakeholders in the process for developing this climate target and the Biden Administration’s strategy for reaching net zero emissions by or before mid-century.
America’s Pledge analyses have shown that climate action by U.S. non-federal actors will be critical for delivering on an ambitious and credible U.S. national strategy and NDC. Deep and robust assessments by America’s Pledge have demonstrated that non-federal actors have, in the past few years, created a significantly enhanced basis for a new, “All-In” climate policy—an all-of-society approach that, with ambitious federal policy starting this year, could deliver nearly 50% emissions reductions by 2030, relative to 2005 levels. Non-federal actors alone have a central role in delivering reductions, with America’s Pledge analysis showing opportunities to drive emissions up to 37% below 2005 levels by 2030 even outside new federal action. In a signal of support for this transformative approach, America Is All In reissued a declaration signed by over 1,700 U.S. communities, businesses, and institutions committing to prioritize climate action in their own operations and work to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
While increasing ambition and action across all sectors and levels of government, America Is All In will work in partnership with the federal government to inform, demand and deliver a robust national climate agenda that rebuilds better from the COVID-19 pandemic through new investment in clean infrastructure, new jobs, and a resilient future free from dirty fossil fuels. The coalition will also quantify and aggregate non-federal climate actions with the aims of increasing dialogue and participation of U.S. subnational leaders at events such as the Earth Day Leaders’ Climate Summit and the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow this November.
“We welcome the United States’ official rejoining of the Paris Agreement today, a major boost to international climate cooperation en route to COP26. It sets the stage for new commitments by the Biden-Harris Administration, building on the dedicated and transformational work from cities, states, businesses and investors over the last four years,” said Gonzalo Muñoz and Nigel Topping, UN High Level Climate Champions for Chile’s COP25 and the UK’s COP26 summits in a statement. “Their united call through the America Is All In alliance for a halving of U.S. emissions by 2030 represents a recommitment to science-based climate policy, and an unprecedented opportunity to unleash innovation, create sustainable jobs and regenerate nature at a pace and scale we’ve never seen before. We look forward to welcoming a new wave of American partners to the Race to Zero and Race to Resilience, and a real commitment to build back a healthier, safer, and more resilient future worldwide after COVID-19.”
