North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper signed an executive order today setting a goal for the state to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent by the year 2025.
Executive Order 80—North Carolina’s commitment to address climate change and transition to a clean energy economy—is “unprecedented,” Cooper said from a signing ceremony at a solar field this afternoon, per a WRAL video of the event.
In introducing the order, Cooper invoked Hurricane Florence and other recent storms that have caused record inland flooding and storm surges in North Carolina, connecting those events to climate change. Cooper was among a coalition of governors who pledged last year to continue to support the Paris Climate Accord after President Trump announced he would be pulling the nation out of the agreement.
“We know there is a consensus among scientists that man-made pollution hurts our health, crops, wildlife, lands, and water and that greenhouse gases intensify climate change,” he said. “This means sea-level rise, stronger storms, and erratic weather from drought to floods. It’s time for North Carolinians to do our part and take action.”
The vast majority of climate scientists agree that human activities—like burning fossil fuels—are driving climate change. Earlier this month, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned of dire impacts from global warming as soon as 2040 without radical steps across the globe in the next few years to prevent the most significant damage.
The order directs state agencies to do their part to slow climate change and grow a clean energy economy, use more zero-emission vehicles, improve building efficiency and invest in clean technology. It also creates a North Carolina Climate Change Interagency Council to provide direction.
“Challenges as great as climate change can feel daunting, overwhelming, even immovable,” Cooper said. “They can leave us feeling unsure of where to start but we cannot let that paralyze us. With historic storms lashing our state we must combat climate change, make our homes, businesses, and infrastructure more resilient, and lessen the impact of natural disasters to come.”
