Inside the Bill That Set the ‘Strongest Clean Energy Requirement in the Nation’

Washington, D.C. is positioning itself on the climate policy fast track. The District of Columbia city council voted unanimously in December to approve an expansive climate bill requiring utility providers to generate 100 percent of their energy supply from renewable sources by 2032. Now that D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has signed the legislation, the provisions will put the nation’s capital on a faster, formally pledged timeline toward cutting utility emissions than any U.S. state. (Hawaii and California have both pledged state-wide goals of 100 percent renewable energy for electricity by 2045.)

While several smaller cities have already reached similar 100-percent renewable energy targets, Washington, D.C., is by far the largest city to make such a commitment. And that’s not all that’s in the bill. Together, the provisions were dubbed the “strongest clean energy requirement in the nation,” by Mark Rodeffer, D.C. Sierra Club Chapter Chair.