Rocky Mountain Institute Releases The Carbon-Free Regions Handbook

Rocky Mountain Institute launches new resource to help state, provincial, and regional leaders around the world take real and meaningful action toward sustainable, low-carbon economies.

 

Basalt, Colorado – September 5, 2018 Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) today launches The Carbon-Free Regions Handbook: An Action Guide for States, Provinces, and Regional Governments to help place communities on an actionable path toward sustainable, low-carbon economies.

The handbook contains 30 ready-to-implement, no regrets solutions that have proven success. It is a companion to The Carbon-Free City Handbook, launched by RMI in November 2017 at COP23 in Bonn, Germany.

“The need for regional-scale governments—states, provinces, counties, multistate coalitions, etc.—to act ambitiously toward similar goals has never been this universal. The Carbon-Free Regions Handbook recommendations are proven, relevant, actionable, and urgently necessary.”

— Jules Kortenhorst, CEO, Rocky Mountain Institute

Each recommendation in the handbook draws off the work of regional leaders from around the globe, and is identified as a meaningful action that almost any region can pursue and apply locally, seeing results within a year. While there are hundreds of possible actions a regional government can take to reduce carbon emissions, the handbook limits recommendations to those that are:

• Impactful: leading-edge solutions that either make immediate, significant impact or enable large, long-term carbon reductions
• Immediately Actionable: could be launched by state/regional staff within one year
• Achievable: recently proven and economically viable, with compelling examples of successful implementation
• Broadly Relevant: applicable for most states, provinces, and regions globally

“State and regional governments are key to achieving the goals of the Paris agreement; as an interface between nations and cities, they are playing a critical role. The examples highlighted in the ‘The Carbon-Free Regions Handbook’ are hand-picked from leading states and regions in the Under2 Coalition and provide an excellent blueprint for other states and regions to follow in their footsteps with the confidence that these actions will deliver emissions reductions” said Tim Ash Vie, Director of the Under2 Coalition Secretariat.

People don’t have to wait for their national government to take action—states, provinces, and regions can lead the action and make the changes the world desperately needs. The actions in this handbook are ready to launch now; and can help regions around the world that take steps to not only solve climate issues, but also solve energy, employment, resiliency, equity, and health issues, all at the same time.

RMI and the Under2 Coalition will be presenting the handbook to business leaders and policy makers at the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco.

Media Inquiries please contact:

Nick Steel, Senior Associate – Media Relations, T: +1 347-574-0887, E: nsteel@rmi.org

Hannah Prime, Communications Advisor, T +44 (0) 7912 514 445, E: hprime@theclimategroup.org

Notes to Editors

About Rocky Mountain Institute

Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI)—an independent nonprofit founded in 1982—transforms global energy use to create a clean, prosperous, and secure low-carbon future. It engages businesses, communities, institutions, and entrepreneurs to accelerate the adoption of market-based solutions that cost-effectively shift from fossil fuels to efficiency and renewables. RMI has offices in Basalt and Boulder, Colorado; New York City; Washington, D.C.; and Beijing.

More information on RMI can be found at www.rmi.org or follow us on Twitter @RockyMtnInst

About the Under2 Coalition and The Climate Group

The Under2 Coalition is driven by a group of ambitious state and regional governments committed to keeping global temperature rises to under 2°C. The coalition is made up of more than 200 governments that represent over 1.3 billion people and nearly 40% of the global economy. The Climate Group is the Secretariat to the Under2 Coalition and works with governments to accelerate climate action through three workstreams: deep decarbonization pathway planning, scaling innovative policy solutions, and mainstreaming transparency and reporting.

More information on the Under2 Coalition can be found at www.under2coalition.org

Global Climate Action Summit

The handbook will be presented to business leaders and policy makers at the Under2 Coalition General Assembly on September 12th 2018.