The Governor of Minnesota has emerged as one of the country’s most forceful advocates for climate action, enacting dozens of policies to accelerate the transition to clean energy in his home state.
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Climate advocates are rallying behind Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, whom Kamala Harris’s picked as her running mate for November’s presidential election.
Tuesday’s announcement prompted reactions from climate advocates and groups, including political action organization the Sunrise Movement, which praised Walz’s robust environmental record and called the Governor a “climate champion” and a “fighter for working people and young people.”
Former US Vice President and environmentalist Al Gore, who in 2007 won the Nobel Peace Prize for his climate advocacy, wrote in a post on X that Walz’s climate record “make[s] him a valuable asset on an issue that demands urgent action if we want to build a better future for our country.”
“I’ve seen Tim Walz in action and have worked with him. He is a proven leader on climate and knows the issue inside and out,” Mr Gore added.
Since his appointment as Governor, Walz, 60, has been focused on tackling the threats posed by the climate crisis in his state, enacting important legislation to phase out planet-warming fossil fuels and promote clean energy development. When signing a law that would lead Minnesota to 100% carbon-free electricity by 2040 in February of last year, Walz said: “We can’t move too fast when it comes to addressing climate change.” The legislation also requires utilities to create plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from their operations.
This was just one of the many climate initiatives the governor helped steer through the state legislature. In 2021, building on California’s example, Walz adopted stricter vehicle emissions standards, requiring automakers to sell more electric and low-emission vehicles in the state. His administration also provided funding to expand Minnesota’s electric vehicle charging network, including grants for public and workplace charging stations, to decarbonize the transportation sector through zero-emission trucks and buses, and to expand public transit, bike, and pedestrian infrastructure.
Walz also set up the State Competitiveness Fund to help Minnesota businesses and organizations take advantage of new federal funding opportunities, particularly from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The US$369 billion legislation passed in 2022 by the Biden administration provides hundreds of billions of dollars in investments and tax credits to accelerate the transition to clean energy, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and support climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts across the US.
If elected to the White House, Walz and Harris would bring a strong climate policy background to the national stage at a critical juncture in the US’s efforts to address the climate crisis, an increasingly urgent threat. The country faces a range of severe impacts like intensifying wildfires, droughts, and extreme weather events. While the Biden administration has made climate change a key priority, pledging to cut carbon dioxide emissions 50% below 2005 levels by 2030, the US is still not on track.
An analysis published last month by the Center for American Progress found that nearly one in four members of Congress – all Republicans – are climate deniers. Combined, these lawmakers received $52 million in lifetime campaign donations from the fossil fuel industry, the same report found. Meanwhile, Trump pledged to be a “dictator” on day one to “drill, drill, drill” and scrap Biden’s most important climate laws if elected.
