Midwestern Greenhouse Gas Accord
Encyclopedia
Midwestern United States
The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....
who are members of the Midwestern Governors Association
Midwestern Governors Association
The Midwestern Governors Association is a 501 nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that brings together the Midwestern governors of states to work cooperatively on public policy issues of significance to the region. The MGA was created in December 1962 in Chicago, when articles of organization were...
(MGA) and the Premier of one Canadian province to reduce greenhouse gas
Greenhouse gas
A greenhouse gas is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range. This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone...
emissions to combat climate change
Climate change
Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...
. Signatories to the Accord are the US states of Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
, Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
, and the Canadian Province of Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
. Observers of the Accord are Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, and South Dakota
South Dakota
South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...
, as well as the Canadian Province of Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
.
The Midwestern Accord was the fourth tier of the MGA Energy Security and Climate Stewardship Summit Platform, signed on November 15, 2007. It establishes the Midwestern Greenhouse Gas Reduction Program, which aims to:
- establish greenhouse gas reduction targets and time frames consistent with signing states' targets;
- develop a market-based and multi-sector cap-and-trade mechanism to help achieve those reduction targets;
- establish a system to enable tracking, management, and crediting for entities that reduce greenhouse gas emissions; and
- develop and implement additional steps as needed to achieve the reduction targets, such as a low-carbon fuel standards and regional incentives and funding mechanisms.
Realizing the unique and major impact that the Midwestern states play in the emissions of carbon, these governors wanted to institute Midwestern practicality in the debate on global warming.
While the Midwest has intensive manufacturing and agriculture sectors, making it the most coal-dependent region in North America, it also has world-class renewable energy resources and opportunities to allow it to take a lead role in solving the effects of climate change. The geographic location and ideologically centrist beliefs of the Midwestern region provide its leaders with an ability to push the federal policy debate in a productive direction. Through the Midwestern Accord, these governors agreed to establish a Midwestern greenhouse gas reduction program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in their states, as well as a working group to provide recommendations regarding the implementation of the Accord.
Coupling the Midwestern Accord with the Midwestern Governors Association
Midwestern Governors Association
The Midwestern Governors Association is a 501 nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that brings together the Midwestern governors of states to work cooperatively on public policy issues of significance to the region. The MGA was created in December 1962 in Chicago, when articles of organization were...
’s MGA Energy Security and Climate Stewardship Platform for the Midwest, the region is uniquely positioned to be a leader in energy and climate issues.
In June 2009, the Midwestern Greenhouse Gas Reduction Accord Advisory Group finalized its draft recommendations.
See also
- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate ChangeIntergovernmental Panel on Climate ChangeThe Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a scientific intergovernmental body which provides comprehensive assessments of current scientific, technical and socio-economic information worldwide about the risk of climate change caused by human activity, its potential environmental and...
- List of climate change initiatives
- The Climate RegistryThe Climate RegistryThe Climate Registry is a nonprofit collaboration between North American states, provinces, territories, and Native Sovereign Nations to record and track the greenhouse gas emissions of businesses, municipalities and other organisations...
- Regional Greenhouse Gas InitiativeRegional Greenhouse Gas InitiativeRegional Greenhouse Gas Initiative is a regional initiative by states and provinces in the Northeastern United States and Eastern Canada regions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions...
- Western Climate InitiativeWestern Climate InitiativeThe Western Climate Initiative, or WCI, is an initiative—started by states and provinces along the western rim of North America—to combat climate change caused by global warming, independent of their national governments....