Michigan will aim to go fully carbon neutral by midcentury, becoming the eighth state to set such a climate goal, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, announced Wednesday.
“There’s no time to waste when it comes to fighting climate change,” Whitmer said during remarks at a Climate Week virtual event hosted by the U.S. Climate Alliance. Whitmer brought Michigan into the alliance, a group of bipartisan states committed to the Paris climate agreement goals, last year.
Whitmer’s executive directive also sets an interim climate goal for the state to cut carbon emissions 28% below 1990 levels by 2025.
The climate target could be challenging for Michigan. Roughly a third of the state’s power generation in 2019 came from coal and 30% from natural gas, compared with roughly 8% from renewable sources of energy, according to the Energy Information Administration.
Whitmer ordered the state’s Treasury Department to help reemploy fossil fuel workers who lose their jobs when carbon-intensive facilities close.
In a separate executive order, she established the Council on Climate Solutions to develop a plan to meet the new goals. The council must submit a draft plan to Whitmer by September of next year.
Whitmer’s announcement followed California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s unveiling of new climate targets for his state on Wednesday, including a ban on new gas-powered car sales beginning in 2035.
