Democratic Governor Tom Wolf issued an executive order on Jan. 8 requiring the state to work toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 26 percent by 2025, and 80 percent by 2050, relative to 2005 levels. By setting goals in line with the 2015 Paris climate agreement, Pennsylvania joins a growing number of states reacting to President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the landmark accord. The order also establishes energy efficiency, renewable energy, and electric vehicle goals for state agencies.
The order establishes a GreenGov Council that will work with government agencies to achieve a set of performance goals that call for reducing overall energy consumption by 3 percent per year, replacing 25 percent of the state car fleet with electric vehicles by 2025, and offsetting at least 40 percent of annual electricity usage with renewable energy.
Last month, Pennsylvania announced its participation in the Transportation Climate Initiative, which aims to develop a policy to cut emissions from the transportation sector in nine Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states and the District of Columbia.