{"id":20768,"date":"2020-12-15T20:15:18","date_gmt":"2020-12-16T01:15:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/?p=20768"},"modified":"2025-12-08T14:15:57","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T19:15:57","slug":"washington-state-governor-inslee-climate-emissions-goals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2020\/12\/15\/washington-state-governor-inslee-climate-emissions-goals\/","title":{"rendered":"Washington state can make good on its climate promises and close the emissions gap"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor’s note: This post was last updated Jan 12, 2021.<\/em><\/p>\n

After a harrowing year, which included a record-breaking wildfire season in Washington that burned over 700,000 acres<\/a>, Washington state lawmakers now have the opportunity to make meaningful climate progress in the new 2021 legislative session. Governor Inslee recently unveiled a comprehensive legislative framework<\/a> for the upcoming session, which focuses on securing reductions in climate pollution consistent with the state\u2019s science-based reduction targets. The package proposes a Clean Fuel Standard, doubles-down on curbing pollution from buildings and investing in clean energy, and critically, includes a firm, declining limit on greenhouse gas emissions that can guarantee pollution is slashed in line with Washington\u2019s climate goals.<\/strong> The proposal also centers environmental justice by ensuring that frontline communities have a prominent role in designing policy and climate investments. Governor Inslee\u2019s leadership is welcome news following the release of a report by Environmental Defense Fund<\/a> which shows that states with climate commitments, including Washington, are off course for bringing their emissions down consistent with science-based trajectories for 2030.<\/p>\n

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Swiftly adopting policies capable of driving reductions persistently over the next decade is essential. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC),<\/a> reducing global emissions to around 45% below what they were in 2010 by 2030 and continuing to reduce emissions dramatically through 2050 is consistent with a path that can avert devastating impacts of climate change. In other words, securing significant and immediate reductions in climate-warming pollution can reduce long-term climate damages, like longer and more severe wildfire seasons.<\/p>\n

Understanding Washington\u2019s \u201cemissions gap\u201d will be critical for assessing how the state can deliver concrete policy action that is capable of safeguarding the state\u2019s health, economy and ecosystems for years to come.<\/p>\n

Washington state\u2019s progress on emissions<\/strong><\/h3>\n

As one of the three founding members of the U.S. Climate Alliance<\/a> in 2017, Washington showed early leadership on climate change in the wake of federal inaction under the Trump administration. Earlier this year, state legislators updated Washington\u2019s targets to reduce climate pollution by 45% below 1990 levels by 2030, and 95% below 1990 levels by 2050. However, the legislature stopped short of adopting a policy framework capable of achieving these reductions or directing regulators to develop regulations to ensure that emissions declined consistent with these goals \u2014 unlike legislators in Colorado, New York, New Jersey and Maine, who provided clear instructions for implementation in 2019. Washington is still missing the policies that can drive emission reductions across the economy, guaranteeing that the state reduces pollution consistent with these reduction targets.<\/p>\n

Washington also took an important first step with the Clean Energy Transformation Act in 2019<\/a>, but meeting the climate goals will require strong action from every sector of the economy. And despite important efforts to put the power sector on a trajectory to 100% clean energy, Washington will need to adopt additional policies to achieve reductions consistent with these targets.<\/p>\n

With this current suite of commitments and policies in place, EDF analysis shows that Washington is projected to reduce emissions between 25% and 35% by 2030, rather than the needed 45% reduction below 1990 levels. <\/strong>This amounts to an emissions gap in 2030 between 23 and 32 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, depending on the pace of recovery from the pandemic.<\/p>\n

Washington Economy-Wide Gross GHG Emissions and Targets\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The state is also off course for achieving the original U.S. commitment under the Paris Agreement in 2025: 26% below 2005 emissions. Overall, the analysis finds that the state will not curb emissions at the pace and scale needed, if legislators do not adopt additional policies.<\/p>\n

Closing the emissions gap<\/strong><\/h3>\n

There are several possible policy solutions that can close this emissions gap, but there are some key features that are needed, and the proposal unveiled by Governor Inslee seems to hit all the marks:<\/p>\n