After President Trump announced that the U.S. will leave the Paris Climate Agreement, many states, cities, and businesses stepped up with their own promises to cut carbon pollution. So you may wonder …

Frisch: “Do those efforts amount to something? What does it add up to?”

Carla Frisch is with the Rocky Mountain Institute. Researchers at the nonprofit think-tank calculated the potential impact of more than 3,000 existing climate commitments.

They found that, together, those commitments could get the U.S. about two-thirds of the way towards the carbon pollution reductions it had originally promised to make by 2025.

Frisch: “This is a pretty amazing start. We have this mass mobilization of states and cities and businesses, and people, who live in those states and cities, and work at those businesses who are committed to taking action and who are doing so in real ways that make an impact.”

But she says two-thirds is not enough.

Frisch: “As a nation, we need to do more than that.”

The researchers also looked at what would happen if everyone increases their commitments, and even more municipalities and companies get involved.

They found that even without federal leadership …

Frisch: “We could get within striking distance of that original pledge in Paris.”

Reporting credit: Sarah Kennedy/ChavoBart Digital Media.