Clean Air Task Force statement on the 2024 U.S. presidential election results

A statement from Clean Air Task Force Executive Director Armond Cohen: 

“The U.S. presidential election results are official, and the challenge just got more challenging. The winning candidate has pledged to roll back many landmark U.S. climate and clean air policies and to withdraw from global engagement on emissions reductions. While some may interpret this as the death knell for U.S. climate progress, or an invitation to push the issue aside for four years, that is far from inevitable. 

Clean energy, innovation, clean air, and climate action are broadly popular across the country, and they can and must progress regardless of who sits in the White House. 

As we await the outcome of the House, a few things are certain: funding from clean energy policy like the Inflation Reduction Act is bolstering communities that voted red and blue alike – indeed, more clean energy manufacturing support is going to red than blue districts by a long distance – and the American clean energy boom is keeping the U.S. manufacturing economy growing at a brisk pace. World-changing clean energy innovation and investment is flowing from labs and start-ups, with major financial players onboard. 

It’s also notable that 60% of the nation – measured by sales and power emissions – is covered by laws or utility pledges to achieve zero carbon emissions within the next couple of decades. Driven by these commitments, wind and solar will likely continue their record pace of deployment, while we are also seeing a revival of interest from governors of both parties in sustaining carbon free nuclear energy – both existing and new. Texas, a conservative state, is even outpacing California in solar deployment. 

Pollution controls under the Clean Air Act and other rules that keep Americans healthy and our climate stable are rooted in law, science, and economics and these protections are vital for all — regardless of political affiliation. 

All the while, global climate action marches on — with or without the U.S. executive branch. If the incoming president chooses to cede U.S. leadership on the global climate stage, there will be many ready to fill the void — and new opportunities for U.S. states, businesses, investors, and other non-state actors to step up.  

And that’s what CATF will fight for. The climate challenge is a century long one, and you don’t hit pause when politicians push unpopular policies that would take us backwards. We will be vigorously defending gains made, assessing the changed landscape, and finding new ways of moving progress forward, with allies across the political and business spectrum.”