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Hours after President Trump announced last year that the United States would exit the Paris climate deal, a broad group of governors, mayors and business executives declared that they would uphold the agreement and continue tackling global warming on their own.
It was a striking move for a coalition of local leaders: Making a case for the rest of the world that they, and not the president, spoke for the nation on climate policy.
To date, however, that groundswell has not been near enough to counteract the effects of the trump administration's retreat on climate policy. Now, as many of these local leaders and executives gather for a high-level conference in San Francisco this week, the group
"Yeah, there's pressure" said Gov. Jerry Brown of California, one of the most visible faces of the movement, known as "We Are Still In." State and Local Leaders "are carrying the flag while the big powers, the national guys, are rather sleepy. "
The gathering in San Francisco, which is spearheaded by Governor Brown, will bring together leaders and civil society groups from around the world to discuss ways that cities, cities and businesses can work together to reduce their emissions.
The stakes are high. So far, 2018 is on track to be the fourth-hottest year on record worldwide. Deadly heat waves scorched all corners of the globe this summer and huge wildfires set California ablaze. Scientists are warning that they have so many long-lasting disruptions that they are unavoidable.
Against that backdrop, the Trump administration has been pushing to roll back many of the most prominent federal climate policies. Overseas, most national governments are falling short of their promises to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
"We're seeing signs of increasing apathy worldwide," said Paul Bledsoe, a White House climate adviser under former President Bill Clinton. "And a lot of people are hoping that this is happening in places like California could be the antidote."
A big test of that antidote will be whether America, states, and countries will turn upside-down in the future, and make it easier, in turn, to help persuade local leaders to ratchet up their own efforts on climate change.
"There is still a symbolic exercise," said Gwynne Taraska, a senior fellow at Climate Advisers, a consulting firm. "This is an opportunity for them to cement their diplomatic relevance."
'A much heavier lift' ahead
Until now, local action on climate change in the United States, the world's fifth-largest economy.
Other states – like Massachusetts, NJ, New York, Oregon and Washington – are racing to catch up.
Signs of climate action are sprouting at the municipal level, too. More than 70 cities, such as Atlanta, Denver and Orlando, have had their say in the world of electricity consumption.
And dozens of Fortune 500 companies including Google, Apple and Wal-Mart have voluntarily invested billions of dollars into building their operations.
Despite the flurry of state actions, though, the United States is still falling short of its Paris Agreements pledges. AT study in June by the research firm The Rhodium Group is estimated to be the president of the United States. President Barack Obama is promised under the pact to cut America's emissions at least 26 percent below 2005 levels by 2025.
One big reason for that: While many states have found it relatively easy to clean up their electric grids, they are responsible for one-third of America's emissions.
That still leaves a lot of emissions, like those of cars and trucks, farming, and industrial sectors like cement and steel. These sources are much harder to decarbonize and more states have not made much headway.
Kate Larsen, co-author of the Rhodium Group report, said: "These are sectors that require huge growth and behavioral changes. "It's a heavier lift."
At the San Francisco talks, known as the Global Climate Action Summit, and some of these long-neglected sectors and push for deeper cuts. Yet even then, they will have to confront another hurdle: Persuading their peers elsewhere in the country to join them.
Only 16 states and Puerto Rico have actually promised to uphold the Paris agreement. Most of those states are led by Democrats, and efforts to persuade Republican-led states like Ohio or Texas to join largely unsuccessful.
"That's been one of the great struggles," said Jay Inslee, Democratic Governor of Washington and co-chairman of the alliance. "But I can tell you that I am confident that the alliance will grow after this next election cycle."
That assumes, though, that states like Florida, New Mexico or Maine will see a change in party control.
A 'new world' in foreign policy
Governor Brown stressed that the San Francisco conference is meant to be a global summit, and he is leading it with foreigners like Xie Zhenhua, China's chief climate negotiator, and Anand Mahindra, prominent Indian industrialist.
In fact, the leaders of We are still in the process of driving their own face of foreign policy on climate change – forging partnerships with other local governments in China – to global warming and urging leaders the trump administration has disengaged on the issue.
"It's a new world," Governor Inslee said. "We have the ability to work with the United Kingdom, we have, with British Columbia, with Mexico, which we do. We can share best practices, we can look for investment opportunities. We are just not hampered by the Trump administration at all. "
It is still possible to provide fresh momentum for global climate efforts, which have shown signs of stalling. The governing party in Australia recently ousted the country's prime minister after a modest climate policy. In Europe and China, emissions have been rising over the past year.
The head of the United Nations, António Guterres, warned this week that the world was approaching a dangerous tipping point.
"Look, we're at the base camp of Mt. Everest," Governor Brown said. "This summit is meant to be a change to the world and to keep it moving forward. And I'll tell you one thing, it's a hell of a lot better than doing nothing. "
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