OLYMPIA—Governor Jay Inslee recently attended Climate Week NYC and was recognized as one of 50 honorees to Forbes Magazine’s inaugural Sustainability Leaders List.
“Humility is often a virtue, but I’ve never been humble when sharing the incredible work of legislators, Tribes, labor, businesses, community groups and so many others who have made Washington a leading state for climate action,” said Governor Inslee in being recognized for his climate action achievements. “We’re creating jobs, spurring innovation and reducing climate change. Let’s keep it going. Our children are depending on us.”
The Forbes inaugural Sustainability Leaders List honored entrepreneurs, scientists, philanthropists, investors, politicians and activists leading global efforts to combat the climate crisis. The list was vetted by a panel of climate experts: Sylvia Earle, Laurene Powell Jobs, Bill McKibben, Nnimmo Bassey and Tom Baruch.
Since becoming governor in 2013, the Inslee administration has driven nation leading policies to tackle pollution and develop a clean energy economy, including:
- A landmark clean electricity policy that puts Washington on the nation’s most ambitious pathway to 100% clean electricity by 2045
- A nation-leading clean buildings policy to phase fossil fuels out of new building construction
- The Climate Commitment Act, a market-based cap-and-invest program with robust environmental justice provisions that is helping fund new climate-friendly transportation options and community investments to help businesses and families transition away from fossil fuels
- Rapid electric vehicle adoption that has earned Washington the second highest rate of electric and plug-in hybrid sales in the nation. Inslee’s Administration has awarded grants to install more than 5,000 EV chargers.
- Launching the state’s Clean Energy Fund, the Institute for Northwest Energy Futures at Washington State University, and the Clean Energy Institute at University of Washington, programs that have created and supported dozens of new technologies and business ventures.
During the 2024 Forbes Sustainability Leaders Summit panel discussion held in New York City on September 24, Inslee shared that he is most proud of “the most aggressive, the most effective, and the most just cap-and-invest system in the United States, which creates an absolute binding limit on carbon pollution [by] establish[ing] a multi-billion-dollar fund to recycle polluters money back to Washingtonians.”
Inslee added that the Climate Commitment Act is a regulatory approach of a “cap with a mechanism to help people make the investments they need in their family and community” to combat climate change.
“It is a market-based program, businesses like it too because it allows them to make efficient decisions based on the most efficient way to make the most productive investment,” Inslee said.
The panel discussion was led by Forbes Senior Editor, Amy Feldman, and included Bezos Earth Fund President & CEO Andrew Steer. Both Inslee and Steer shared about their plans to combat climate change.
When asked by Feldman to address Initiative 2117, that if passed this November will prohibit carbon tax credit trading effectively ending his CCA program, Inslee responded that the efforts of the “retroactive MAGA friends who want to defeat it [the CCA]” will not succeed.
“My state is not a state that follows climate deniers, it is not a state that believes wind turbines cause cancer; we think they cause growth,” Inslee said.
Inslee joked that he is “more worried about natural stupidity than artificial intelligence” when it comes to utilizing AI to combat climate change. He added that AI can be used in the progression of the ever-evolving fusion energy industry in Washington state.
During the discussion, Bezos Earth Fund President, Andrew Steer enlightened attendees with AI’s possible applications from digitizing the electrical grid to increase distribution and capacity, to utilizing AI recognition algorithms that will identify species and monitor migration patterns. He also shared that AI could analyze forest growth to aid carbon trading markets. The Bezos fund, Steer shared, is committing $100 million to these and similar efforts.
The Bezos Earth Fund is a $10 billion commitment made by Jeff Bezos in 2020 to address nature and climate challenges in this decade.
Other high-profile speakers at the leadership summit were former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, and actor and cofounder of Water.org Matt Damon.
In 2017 Inslee co-founded the U.S. Climate Alliance, a bipartisan coalition of governors that represents more than half the U.S. population, dedicated to achieving the Paris Agreement’s climate goals. He also launched the International Ocean Acidification Alliance, and helps lead the Pacific Coast Collaborative, America Is All In and Under2 Coalition.
In addition to the summit, Inslee attended Climate Week NYC, held from September 22-29, to highlight Washington’s role as a national leader on economy-wide climate policies and to rally continued momentum for state and federal climate action.
The event hosted by Climate Group, brought together over 600 events and activities “to drive climate action, fast,” according to the international nonprofit’s website. The event was in partnership with the United Nations General Assembly and the City of New York.
Inslee was joined by his U.S. Climate Alliance co-chairs New York Governor Kathy Hochul and New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, and White House National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi, where they announced a new workforce initiative to train 1 million new registered apprentices across the Alliance’s states and territories for jobs and careers in clean energy, climate resiliency, and restoration.
“We’re aligning our ambitious climate policies with workforce development to have 1 million more workers poised to take these good-paying, union jobs that serve our communities and strengthen our economies,” said Washington Gov. Jay Inslee. “These are economy-wide jobs, not just in clean energy but building trades, land management, clean technology and more. Climate Alliance states have a track record of meeting our ambitious goals and that momentum continues today.”
The 2035 goals of Inslee’s workforce initiative include:
- Advancing strategies to ensure climate-ready employment pathways lead to good-paying, high-quality jobs that protect worker safety, ensure worker voice, and support workers throughout their careers with family sustaining wages and benefits.
- Prioritizing equity in climate-ready workforce policies and programs to expand opportunities for all workers, particularly those from underrepresented and underserved communities and those disproportionately impacted by climate change and the energy transition.
- Fostering meaningful and inclusive collaboration across government, Tribal nations and communities, workforce systems, labor unions, industry, community-based organizations, educational institutions, and other key partners in developing solutions.
- Supporting innovative and evidence-based approaches to help workers enter, transition into, and advance in climate-ready careers through a range of supportive services, including educational and transition services, language access services, and wraparound supports such as childcare and transportation.
- Promoting the development and use of stackable, portable, and industry-aligned credentials in climate-ready fields to build transferable skills, support reskilling and upskilling, and strengthen workers’ economic mobility.
- Maximizing opportunities to build a climate-ready workforce with federal investments under the Inflation Reduction Act, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and CHIPS and Science Act, including by supporting employers’ compliance with applicable prevailing wage and Registered Apprenticeship provisions.
- Strengthening regional and sector-based collaboration to promote greater alignment and maximize impact in addressing shared challenges and opportunities.
- Encouraging climate-focused workforce planning that is rooted in evidence and aligns with states’ existing workforce development and education systems, increasing capacity of states’ workforce systems and improving data collection and reporting as needed.
To advance sector-specific strategies, Alliance members will work together through new multi-state cohorts focused on in-demand, climate-ready fields. These cohorts will provide a platform for states and territories to increase collaboration, share evidence-based practices, engage experts and stakeholders, and develop sectoral workforce solutions that can be scaled across the country.
Cohorts to be launched in the Initiative’s first year will focus on careers in the following areas: Clean Energy, Fuels, and Technologies; Clean Buildings and Industry; and Resilient Communities and Lands.
This Initiative builds on several federal-state collaborations and federal investments under the Inflation Reduction Act, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and CHIPS and Science Act.
Author: Mario Lotmore
