Will Other States Join California's International Climate Pact?

The same day President Trump withdrew the United States from the Paris climate agreement, the governors of New York, California, and Washington announced a domestic effort to combat global warming, the U.S. Climate Alliance. Though the group’s exact plans are still unclear, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo defiantly declared that it would uphold the terms reached in Paris, “regardless of [Trump’s] irresponsible actions.”

But what of the United States’ role in international climate policy? At least in the near future, it may come down to the people working in a small office in a beige high-rise next door to the Sacramento Central Public Library.

That office is home to the Western Climate Initiative, Inc., a private, nonprofit corporation whose board includes the governments of California and several Canadian provinces. Incorporated in Delaware, it “was established to provide administrative infrastructure for emissions trading programs,” said former board member Michael Gibbs, the recently retired assistant executive officer of the California Air Resources Board.

While WCI, Inc. was created during the Obama administration, it seems well suited for the Trump era. The U.S. Climate Alliance wants to keep the United States