Across the country, local governments are accelerating their efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions, in some cases bridging partisan divides. Their role will become increasingly important. Across the country, communities and states are accelerating their efforts to fight climate change as action stalls on the national level. This week, the Supreme Court curtailed the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to limit greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, one of the biggest sources of planet-warming pollution — the latest example of how the Biden administration’s climate tools are getting chipped away. This patchwork approach is no substitute for a coordinated national strategy. Local governments have limited reach, authority and funding. One advantage of community strategies is that they can be tailored to the needs of the local economy. As conversations move from the municipal to state level, they tend to grow more partisan. In the absence of much federal action, the task of helping local governments act on climate is falling to independent groups.
By Maggie Astor. New York Times. July 1, 2022.
