Policy Watch

Environmental Advocates Celebrate as Minnesota Pledges to become 100% Carbon-Free

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Last month Minnesota became the 22nd state nationwide to commit to 100 percent carbon-free electricity—a victory for Great Lakes region environmental and environmental justice organizations that, for many years, advocated for such policy.

The law requires the state’s investor-owned utilities to be 100 percent carbon-free by 2040. The measure also requires benchmarks toward this goal for utilities to be 80 percent carbon-free by 2030, and 90 percent by 2035. It also requires that by 2035, Minnesota utilities must get at least 55% of their electricity from renewable sources.

With the passage of this law, Minnesota joins Illinois as a national leader on electric power decarbonization as the bedrock of climate action by lowering greenhouse gas emissions, and creating new, clean energy jobs. Michigan and Wisconsin have also made advancements toward becoming carbon-free among Great Lakes states.

Several grantees of Joyce’s Environment Program advocated for a 100 percent clean energy policy in Minnesota, including Fresh Energy, Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy (MCEA), Climate Generation, and Union of Concerned Scientists. Fresh Energy, MCEA and other groups will be closely involved in the regulatory proceedings to implement this legislation over the next two years.

We applaud and celebrate the importance of passing this bill in Minnesota, as well as the many organizations, legislators, communities, and individuals that made this possible,” said Kristen Poppleton, Senior Director of Programs for Climate Generation in a blog post. “We also know this is just one part of a comprehensive climate justice-grounded policy package that needs to be passed during the 2023 legislative session.”

About The Joyce Foundation

Joyce is a nonpartisan, private foundation that invests in evidence-informed public policies and strategies to advance racial equity and economic mobility for the next generation in the Great Lakes region.

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