Gov. Evers Announces Wisconsin to Join U.s. Climate Alliance Affordable Clean Cars Coalition 

MADISON — Gov. Tony Evers, co-chair of the U.S. Climate Alliance, announced today that Wisconsin is joining the Alliance’s Affordable Clean Cars Coalition. This multi-state initiative is aimed at sustaining America’s transition to cleaner and more affordable cars, supporting U.S. automotive manufacturers and workers, and improving air quality for all.

“All Wisconsinites deserve to be able to drive the newest and cleanest cars on the market, especially those that save money and pollute less,” said Gov. Evers. “We need to make it easier, not harder, for consumers to upgrade to electric vehicles—and that’s exactly what we’re doing through this state-led partnership.”

With today’s announcement, Wisconsin and Hawai’i are joining 11 other states that launched the coalition in May, including California, Colorado, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Washington. States participating in the Affordable Clean Cars Coalition are collaborating to:

• Develop solutions that make cleaner vehicles more affordable and accessible to all Americans who want them, including by reducing cost barriers, increasing availability of options, and expanding accessible charging and fueling infrastructure at home and in our communities;
• Continue making progress toward states’ existing clean vehicle policies and programs;
• Explore opportunities to develop and adopt next-generation policies and programs to reduce vehicle pollution, such as solutions that increase consumer access to cleaner cars and low-carbon fuels;
• Foster meaningful engagement with manufacturers, suppliers, dealers, labor unions, business associations, utilities, community-based organizations, charging and fueling infrastructure providers, and others in developing and successfully implementing state transportation solutions;
• Prioritize efforts that bolster America’s ability to compete and innovate in a growing global market;
• Collaborate with one another, share evidence-based practices, engage experts, and develop solutions that can be shared across state lines and eventually scaled by the federal government; and
• Defend states’ longstanding authority to adopt transportation solutions that best meet their needs and most effectively support their families and communities.

To support these goals, the Alliance is providing resources to help members tackle vehicle pollution and lower barriers for consumers to more affordably own, drive, charge, and maintain clean cars. The effort is one of several multi-state partnerships hosted by the Alliance that provide a platform for states and territories to deepen collaboration, participate in peer-to-peer learning, engage experts and stakeholders, and develop scalable solutions. Additionally, the Alliance launched a nationwide effort last month to encourage Americans to take advantage of federal clean energy incentives—including thousands of dollars in tax credits for electric vehicles (EVs) and EV charger installations—before they expire. More information on the Alliance’s efforts to address this issue to support and advance the nation’s clean energy economy is available here.

In 2019, in one of his first acts as governor, Gov. Evers joined the Alliance, a bipartisan coalition of 24 governors representing nearly 60 percent of the U.S. economy and 55 percent of the U.S. population. Earlier this year, Gov. Evers was appointed a co-chair of the Alliance after being the first governor from the Midwest to join the executive committee, which oversees the strategic direction of the bipartisan coalition of governors.

The Alliance is committed to securing a net-zero future in America by advancing state-led, high-impact climate action solutions and collectively achieving the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement to combat climate change. Last year, Gov. Evers celebrated the launch of the Alliance’s Governors’ Climate-Ready Workforce Initiative aimed at expanding the clean energy workforce nationwide and supporting job and apprenticeship training in innovative industries and technologies by training 1 million new registered apprentices by 2035 across the Alliance’s member states and territories.

Gov. Evers has also long championed efforts to promote climate resilience through innovative transportation infrastructure and clean energy initiatives. In addition to joining the Alliance in 2019, Gov. Evers created the Governor’s Task Force on Climate Change and the Wisconsin Office of Sustainability and Clean Energy (OSCE) with the goal of developing the Wisconsin Clean Energy Plan to promote the development and use of clean and renewable energy across the state, advance innovative sustainability solutions that improve the state’s economy and environment, and diversify the resources used to meet the state’s energy needs. The order also established the state’s goal to reach 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2050 and charged the OSCE with ensuring the state is fulfilling the carbon reduction goals of the Paris Agreement.

Additionally, earlier this year, Gov. Evers and WisDOT celebrated the opening of the first EV charging stations in Wisconsin funded by the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Following federal threats to freeze or delay funding for critical infrastructure projects across Wisconsin, in May, Gov. Evers announced Wisconsin joined a multi-state lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Transportation challenging the Trump Administration’s efforts to block NEVI Formula Program funding the state expected to receive to support EV infrastructure projects across the state. Thanks to these efforts, in June, a federal judge blocked the Trump Administration’s action, and now, 15 already-approved EV infrastructure projects for private entities, utilizing approximately $7 million in NEVI funding, that were initially blocked are now able to move forward in Wisconsin. However, federal threats to the future of this impactful program remain, and earlier this week, Gov. Evers sent a second letter to Wisconsin’s Congressional delegation, urging bipartisan opposition to the president’s proposed federal budget, calling on Congress to reject the president’s reckless cuts to critical programs that keep Wisconsinites safe, keep local budgets stable, and sustain progress in every region of the state, including NEVI.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.