Illinois became one of six Midwestern states today to agree to a plan to establish a multi-state greenhouse gas reduction program. Signed in Milwaukee, where the Midwestern Governors Association has been holding a summit meeting on Energy Security and Climate Stewardship, the program includes a broad set of goals to boost supply of renewable energy and biofuels and to tap energy efficiency to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG).

The Midwestern Greenhouse Gas Accord pledges that the six states— Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan, Kansas and Illinois—will undertake multi-sector cap-and-trade mechanisms and “develop and implement other associated mechanisms and policies as needed to achieve the GHG reduction targets, such as a low-carbon fuel standard and regional incentives and funding mechanisms.” The agreement says that each state will develop a workplan within the next two months and complete the development of the cap-and-trade program within the next year.

With the agreement, the Midwest becomes the third region of the country to enter into such a multi-state agreement, joining ten Northeastern states that announced a plan several years ago and a more recent six-state West Coast initiative. According to the World Resources Institute, with the Midwestern agreement, 48% of the nation's population will now be included in some form of regional climate compact.

Illinois has been a leader in the region on the issue: the first Midwestern state to have an advisory group make recommendations to the governor on climate change and a renewable energy/energy efficiency package that passed this year. Although Illinois was among the last state to indicate it would sign the accord, it did join the signatory group, unlike three states that signed on as observers and three others that did not sign at all.

“The announcement today opens a new front in the fight against global warming, and the fact that it was done in some industrial heartland states sends a strong message to Congress that national action is needed and desired on this issue,” says Jonathan Goldman, the executive director of the IEC, which is part of a multi-state campaign with colleagues in Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota on global warming solutions. “This is a very important step forward and provides very hopeful implications for our work.”