Governor Tim Walz, Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan, House Speaker Melissa Hortman and Senate Minority Leader Melisa López Franzen announced a framework for addressing climate change. The DFL leaders were joined by Christophe Beck, Chairman and CEO of Ecolab, and Patrick Lunemann, Lunemann Farms, during a Friday, September 16, press conference at Ecolab's research facility in Eagan.
The framework aims to achieve the goals advanced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which call for a 50 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2030 and net-zero emissions by 2050. In 2007, a bipartisan group of state lawmakers enacted legislation calling for a 30 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2025 and an 80 percent reduction by 2025. According to the report issued by Governor Walz's Climate Change Subcabinet, the state is falling short of its statutory goals, with an 8 percent reduction since 2005.
The framework includes calls for cleaner modes of transportation, energy efficient buildings, a carbon-neutral economy, and sustainable agriculture and land management. Some of the recommendations set forth will require legislative action in future sessions.
