Lawmakers unveil urgent plan to protect state from financial fallout: 'There's no scenario where we simply just don't pay'

Wisconsin lawmakers are working to garner public support for legislation that would significantly reduce the state's carbon footprint.

As WQOW reported, several state lawmakers gathered in late April in Eau Claire to discuss the Climate Accountability Act, a bill that targets Wisconsin's harmful carbon pollution. 

The proposed bill doesn't feature concrete ideas. It would, however, require the legislature to create a plan that reduces emissions statewide by 52% by 2030 and to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.

The lawmakers stressed that the state must act now, and this bill must receive bipartisan support or pay the price when it comes to the effects of a changing, warming climate.

"There's no scenario where we simply just don't pay," state Rep. Christian Phelps, a co-sponsor of the bill, said. "We either pay by destroying the planet or we pay by investing in renewable energy and by divesting from carbon emissions. I would rather do the latter."

The bill also includes language guaranteeing that any carbon-reduction plan would also improve economic and racial equality.

Wisconsin, the 20th most populous state, ranked 19th among all states for carbon emissions in 2022, at roughly 100 million tons. That puts it on par with levels from countries like Venezuela and the Czech Republic.

Conservation nonprofit Clean Wisconsin says that achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 is possible with aggressive action from governmental and business leaders — and that would provide the state with several benefits outside of a cleaner, healthier planet.

It said that investing in renewable energy sources to reach that goal would create nearly 70,000 new jobs and add $16 billion to the state's economy, boosting Wisconsin's gross state product by about 3%. It would also create a healthier population, potentially resulting in billions of dollars saved in avoided health care costs.

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