Over the course of his two terms in office, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota has quietly emerged as one of the nation’s most forceful advocates for tackling climate change.
Governor Walz, who is said to have been tapped by Vice President Kamala Harris as her running mate, most recently made national headlines for labeling the Republican ticket “weird.”
But back in St. Paul, Mr. Walz has been increasingly focused on the threats posed by climate change to his state and has been enacting ambitious policies designed to slash the use of the fossil fuels that are dangerously heating the planet.
Most notably, in 2023, Mr. Walz signed a law requiring Minnesota to generate all of its electricity from wind, solar and other carbon-free sources by 2040, eliminating the climate-warming pollution generated by coal and gas-fired power plants. That law came in the midst of a legislative session in which Minnesota Democrats, working with Governor Walz, pushed through nearly 40 other climate initiatives. In June, he signed a law designed to speed the implementation of the 2040 clean power mandate, by streamlining the permitting of renewable electricity projects.
“As I sign this legislation, communities from one end of our state to the other are looking at months of rebuilding after an extreme weather event exacerbated by climate change,” Governor Walz said in June, after catastrophic flooding devastated parts of the state.
“This is a measure that will help protect our environment and get the clean energy projects that are going to help fight climate change in motion,” he said.
More than half of states already have laws or regulations requiring utilities to switch to clean electricity, but only a handful require the transition to happen at the rapid pace set by Minnesota. Under that law, Minnesota would transition to clean electricity sources even faster than California, which for decades has been at the vanguard of state climate action.
The Minnesota law is also more ambitious than a similar standard that President Biden tried, but failed, to include in his 2022 climate law. Activists have said they see it as a model for future climate legislation — at either the state or national level.
“We could not be more excited about Governor Walz’ leadership on climate,” said Bill Holland, state policy director for the League of Conservation Voters. “I do not think when he campaigned in 2018 we would have called him a climate champion, and he has now made it a centerpiece.”
Still, the governor’s actions on climate have generated pushback from neighboring North Dakota, which is heavily reliant on coal and is also a major producer of gas. Gov. Doug Burgum, Republican of North Dakota, who is advising Donald J. Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, on energy policy, contends that the new Minnesota climate law is unconstitutional. The law would eventually forbid Minnesota utilities from selling coal or gas-fired power produced in other states to Minnesota customers, even if the power is generated by fossil fuels but the producer uses “carbon capture” technology that captures and stores planet-warming greenhouse pollution.
The North Dakota Industrial Commission, a three-member panel led by Mr. Burgum, filed formal comments with the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission in June calling that element of the law “constitutionally suspect,” and “an improper attempt by Minnesota to export its wholly internal energy policy decisions to its neighboring states in patent violation of those states’ rights and sovereignty.”
A spokeswoman for the Walz administration referred questions about the case to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, which did not respond to a query by email on Monday afternoon.
Before he became governor, Mr. Walz was a schoolteacher when he was elected to Congress in 2006. He served six terms and was known as a reliable vote for Democratic environmental policies, but not as a particularly vocal champion of climate legislation.
But that began to change as his state felt the effects of extreme weather events intensified by climate change.
Over the past five years, extreme drought forced Minnesota cattle farmers to liquidate some of their herds far earlier than planned. Wildfire smoke from Canada choked the skies over the Twin Cities. A dearth of snow and ice — an increasing problem in the Great Lakes Region — meant a lack of ice-fishing and cross-country skiing that triggered economic losses.
During that time, Mr. Walz gradually embraced the role of climate champion, speaking about the direct impacts of climate change on his rural constituents.
In 2019, he signed an executive order that established a climate change sub-cabinet within his administration that is advised by a citizen board. In 2022, he unveiled a plan to fight climate change that called for increasing sales of electric vehicles to 20 percent by providing purchasing incentives for consumers and dealers, expanding the state’s E.V. charging network, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by the end of the decade.
