Bold Leadership and Historic Investment are Launching Climate Renewal

By Ben Jealous

The last Apollo mission launched a few weeks before I was born. I grew up hearing people describe an audacious goal as a “moonshot.”

What excites me lately is how poised for a comeback this country is for the environment and the economy. I think of it as our “Earth shot,” and my home state of Maryland is emerging as Cape Canaveral’s successor.

Sparrows Point is one of our launchpads. That’s where Orsted, a wind energy company, will manufacture what it needs to power about 300,000 Maryland homes as part of a state goal for offshore windfarms to provide electricity to about 3 million homes. That also will create 125 good jobs that pay well. All on a site that once housed the world’s largest steel mill.

The Free State is showing what can happen when bold leadership and real dollars meet to address climate concerns.

Governor Wes Moore and the state legislature last year set a goal for Maryland to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 60 percent by 2031 and reach net zero emissions by 2045.

They’ve begun pursuing those goals, from demanding dealers offer more options for zero-emissions cars and trucks each year until reaching 100 percent of sales in 2035 to permitting community solar power projects to bring that renewable energy to more homes and businesses.

The White House and Congress did their part last year by passing a historic spending package directing nearly $400 billion to growing clean energy and revitalizing American manufacturing. In Baltimore Friday, Vice President Kamala Harris announced a $20 billion loan program for underserved neighborhoods that she called “the largest investment in financing for community-based climate projects in our nation’s history.”