Rash Report: Climate-change politics need to cool, too

Fittingly for a climate-change event, it was sweltering.

The venue was the Harriet Island Pavilion in St. Paul, where on June 17 the British consul general for the Midwest, Alan Gogbashian, hosted "Road to COP26: Minnesota Climate Action," an event "to celebrate Minnesota's collective commitment and climate achievements" in advance of the U.N. Climate Change Conference of the Parties that will be held in Glasgow this November.

Despite divisions that have convulsed the country since Brexit began, the United Kingdom seems united on leading mitigation efforts. Britain's was the first major economy to legislatively commit to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and has pledged to reduce emissions by at least 68% by 2035 (from 1990 levels).

And the U.K. is leaning in not just on global warming but on globalism itself: This month it hosted a successful summit of G-7 leaders in Cornwall, where Prime Minister Boris Johnson and President Joe Biden issued a New Atlantic Charter, pledging to work toward a "more peaceful and prosperous future."

That ideal will depend on combatting climate change. It's a challenge, Gogbashian said in an interview, in which "it's really important that we not just have national federal governments engaging with climate action, but we need cities, we need state governments, we need civil society, we absolutely have to have business there."

All of those crucial cohorts were at Harriet Island, including a bevy of business executives representing Minnesota multinationals like 3M, Cargill and Land O'Lakes and more midsize firms like Zeus Electric Chassis, which were among other entities energized by the environmental and economic benefits of lowering carbon emissions.

The business buy-in belies a belief some have about climate-change politics: that the business sector is in denial or defiance of its role in the problem — and the solution.

"I think people would be surprised to see just how far several businesses are going in the commitments and the climate-change declarations," said Gogbashian. "The message we've been trying to get out of the U.K. is that you can commit to clean growth, sustainable growth, without compromising your economy. We are seeing economic growth in the U.K. while committing to climate action at the same time, and I think that businesses are seeing this is good for the bottom line."

The surprise surmised may be because of the way environmentalism was initially framed, said Bonnie Keeler, a Humphrey School of Public Affairs assistant professor whose academic focus includes the intersection of environmental policy and politics.

Landmark legislation like the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act "saw a narrative that really put people vs. the environment," said Keeler. "We had the spotted owl and jobs vs. nature kind of language that I think actually made the environment more of a wedge issue than it needed to be." This "instilled a dichotomy between you can either have policies that are good for people and good for jobs or you can have policies that are good for critters. And I think that was a problematic framing that the conservation community is now very aware of and has moved very strongly away from."

The conservation community may have moved away from the narrative. But many in the conservative community, conversely, continue to embrace it.

That's apparent in polling. And in politics, in Washington, St. Paul and beyond.

The coming conversion to electric vehicles in Europe generally and General Motors' shift to an all-electric fleet by 2035 is likely to be even more contentious than renewable energy. Already it's been a highly divisive issue at the state Legislature, where Senate Republicans threatened to shutter state parks to force DFL Gov. Tim Walz to drop new clean car emission standards, which require automakers to make more electric vehicles available for sale in the state.

Expressing displeasure with the rule, Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka told reporters that "we did get clarity that [the standards] will not be implemented until January of 2024, which means this becomes an election issue."

If so, expect divides. Between DFLers and GOPers, to be sure, but also within the Republican Party, particularly generationally. In fact, according to a May Pew poll, "Generational differences over climate change appear in both parties, but especially among Republicans — and particularly over the role of fossil fuels."

In Great Britain, "we see the electrification of vehicles, clean cars to be a fundamental part of U.K. domestic policy. And we would like to encourage other partners like Minnesota to follow a similar model," Gogbashian said. "We have found that once we start on this track, if the government provides finance, the private sector comes right alongside, then public opinion follows. Minnesota has to decide its own course on this. But we in the U.K. have a really positive story to tell them."

A key theme of this "really positive story" is it isn't the left-leaning Labor Party that's running the government, but the Tories — the Conservative Party. "In the U.K., climate action is something that all of society has gotten behind regardless of political position," Gogbashian said, reflecting a political dynamic seen throughout Europe.

Finding the unity the United Kingdom and other countries have on climate change and conservation measures can happen in Minnesota. To some degree it already is happening, according to Keeler, who said, "What I see when I talk to people in Minnesota is this really broad sense of stewardship value, that it's part of our culture, that it's part of our sense of place."

Overall, Keeler said, "environment and conservation issues are more collateral damage of our increasingly tribal and polarized political system rather than a driver of it."

Ideally, environmental issues could drive Minnesotans away from polarization. And to some degree, it happened just this week when on a bipartisan basis the Senate passed an environment finance bill. Composed of compromises, it didn't please everyone, but much was accomplished, including the state getting its 60th state forest on 22,596 acres in St. Louis and Carlton Counties. It will be called Riverlands, reflecting just two of the assets worth conserving in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.