When President Donald Trump announced America's withdrawal from the Paris climate change accord, the decision horrified many observers, both within the US and beyond. John Hickenlooper, the Democratic governor of Colorado, was among them. "Abandoning this climate deal is like ripping off your parachute when you should be pulling the ripcord," Hickenlooper declared, using the pithy turn of phrase for which he is renowned.
Fast forward a month, and Trump shows little desire to reverse his decision on Paris. Meanwhile, Scott Pruitt, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, continues to wage war on climate change scientists, roll back regulations and make efforts to defang federal environment bodies.
But away from the headlines, something striking is happening to America's climate change "parachute". The shock of the president's announcement is spurring a wave of energy and organisation among environmentalists - in much the same way that his comments on women have rekindled a new debate about feminism. What is particularly interesting about this counter-reaction is that it is being driven by cities and municipalities instead of federal groups; so much so that the next couple of years could deliver a fascinating lesson on what government means in America, one that may be far more cheering in tone than anything emanating from Washington.
"This is going to be a time when a whole new set of ideas comes up for how states can work together and municipalities can work together," Hickenlooper recently observed during a visit to the Aspen Ideas Festival. "States are laboratories for democracy - and they are also laboratories for a secure and clean energy. In the next month we will come up with all kinds of ideas and ways of doing things."
Now, a cynic might point out that this type of grassroots action is nothing new. America's constitution gives extensive powers to local entities and some states and cities have already been driving the green energy movement. Colorado, for example, has been closing coal plants, and Los Angeles is introducing solar panels. When Michael Bloomberg was mayor of New York, he introduced numerous measures to make the Big Apple greener (he is fond of pointing out that if you fly into New York these days, you can see many buildings whose roofs are covered in foliage or painted energy-efficient white).
But the real significance of the trend is that state and city leaders are looking beyond their own boundaries - or roofs - and teaming up across the nation to provide an alternative power channel, away from Washington. Soon after Trump's decision, Bloomberg announced that he was organising a coalition to uphold green reforms. This group, which features three dozen mayors, several governors and more than 100 corporate enterprises, is trying to persuade the UN to let American cities and states make a formal commitment to uphold the Paris targets - irrespective of Trump's withdrawal.
Separately, governors from red and blue states are intensifying their bilateral brainstorming: Hickenlooper, for example, says that he is exploring environmental initiatives with Montana even though it has a Republican governor, while a group called the Climate Leadership Council has recently launched proposals to use carbon taxes, trade rules and other incentives to promote a green agenda. According to Ted Halstead, head of the CLC, Trump's announcement on the Paris accord has galvanised more - not less - corporate support: CLC is backed by companies such as Shell, BP, Exxon and Total, as well as some powerful Republican figures, alongside Bloomberg.
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It remains to be seen how far these grassroots efforts can really offset the federal stance. Halstead admits, for example, that it will be impossible to implement his bold proposals for green tax and trade initiatives without support from the commerce department. It is also uncertain whether the UN will accept Bloomberg's bid for recognition. "It is not exactly clear how we allocate the national responsibilities under Paris to individual states - nobody has really thought about this before because we didn't need to," says Hickenlooper.
But there again, the sheer economic weight of the states that are signing up to Bloomberg's initiative - such as California and New York, never mind Colorado - is impressive. (If California were a country, it would be the sixth-largest economy in the world.) The sense of practical bipartisan collaboration is striking too. So, if nothing else, these initiatives should be a welcome reminder that there is far more to American politics than Washington - or Trump. When future historians look back at 2017, they will undoubtedly see it as a year of tawdry political shocks. But they may also conclude that it was the moment Americans were forced to confront their constitution afresh - and celebrate the power of local government, in relation to the environment and much else.
gillian.tett@ft.com; @gilliantett
Illustration by Shonagh Rae
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2017
