New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan-Grisham announced this week that she would be adding her state to the U.S. Climate Alliance.
During her State of the State address at the opening of the New Mexico legislature, Lujan-Grisham said that joining the alliance would be in addition to executive action to match the goals of the Paris Agreement, as well as a model for developing a “comprehensive climate plan” for her state moving forward.
“But if we want to show off our wide-open spaces, we have to keep preservation on the front burner. The U.S. Climate Alliance is a bi-partisan group of governors who have committed to upholding the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement and New Mexico will now join it,” Lujan-Grisham said.
“I will sign an executive order committing us to those goals in the very near future, and I will direct each state agency to participate in developing a comprehensive climate plan for New Mexico that responds to the threat of warming planet by reducing C02 and other greenhouse gas pollution,” she added.
Lujan-Grisham argued that her goals for the state were driven by a lack of action at the federal level.
“Because we know we cannot rely on the federal government right now to lead us on climate action, it is our responsibility and indeed our moral obligation to ensure that this planet and this state are preserved for our children and their children,” Lujan-Grisham said.
The U.S. Climate Alliance features 17 governors from states across the country, including California, Washington, Oregon, and Colorado.
Governors who have pledged to meet Paris Agreement goals are pushing for policies at the state level that “reduce carbon pollution and promote clean energy deployment.”
To that end, Lujan-Grisham called for New Mexico to meet an interim 50 percent renewable energy goal by 2030, and 80 percent renewable energy goal by 2040.
“I ask you to fulfill that commitment with me, not as a ceiling but as a starting point with an ultimate goal of even greater renewable production. This is our promise to future generations of New Mexicans because clean energy is the future, and we all know New Mexico has the sunshine and I’ve shown you today the wind capacity to be a global leader in this new era,” she said.
While she didn’t mention the oil and gas industry by name, she did say that “there are other steps we can take to reduce our carbon footprint and ensure we get on and stay on the right path.”
That includes promoting energy efficiency at state buildings and cutting “wasteful methane emissions.”
New Mexico’s legislature is scheduled to run through March 16.
