Statewide climate action plans are becoming a core part of planning, policy, and program implementation for many states across the US. As more states develop and periodically update these plans, climate leadership is evolving to include not only ambition for greenhouse gas reductions but also the ability to translate those ambitions into coordinated, durable action. This shift requires more than technical analysis or policy design. It requires processes that help diverse stakeholders navigate challenges, link evidence to decision-making, and align on practical paths forward.
GPI had the pleasure of helping the state of Minnesota design and implement such a process as part of its 2026 update to the state’s Climate Action Framework. Through this update, the state has defined its vision for a carbon-neutral, resilient, and equitable future. In addition, it has paired that vision with specific actions the state and others can take to achieve the desired results, offering a set of practical lessons for states working to strengthen their own climate planning and implementation efforts:
- Pair ambition with action
- Align the right actors with the right actions
- Invest in coordination and engagement
- Treat planning as an iterative process
Turning ambition into shared understanding
Climate action requires coordination across sectors with very different perspectives. Industry understands supply chains and investment cycles. Agencies bring policy and program expertise. Communities offer insight into local impacts and priorities. Farmers and foresters bring on-the-ground knowledge of land, water, and seasonal variability that shapes both mitigation and adaptation potential. Academics contribute research, modeling, and evidence-based frameworks that ground decisions in data. Labor representatives speak to workforce transitions, job quality, and the human dimensions of shifting industries. Bringing these voices together is essential to identifying challenges, surfacing opportunities, and shaping practical solutions.
GPI supported Minnesota’s Climate Change Subcabinet and Governor’s Advisory Council on Climate Change in convening these perspectives to inform the 2026 framework update. From August 2024 to October 2025, sector-based conversations brought together experts across areas including clean transportation, natural and working lands, resilient communities, clean energy, climate equity, economic development, buildings, and emissions forecasting.
These discussions created space to test assumptions, refine modeling, and explore real-world implementation. The result: stronger analysis, clearer strategies, and greater alignment on what it will take to move forward.
Making climate strategies actionable
While creating a shared understanding of potential climate actions and their implications is an important first step, continued dialogue among experts within each sector is critical to crafting durable, actionable steps for climate action implementation. The series of sector-based conversations delved deeper into specific action steps and how to ensure implementation aligns with Minnesota’s climate vision of a carbon-neutral, resilient, and equitable future.
These conversations also helped clarify what is possible and what roles different entities could play. By identifying where authority, expertise, capital, and capacity reside, these discussions clarified how state and local governments, utilities, businesses, and community organizations can collaborate to achieve climate successes together. The framework supports progress by ensuring that all Minnesotans see themselves in the framework and can identify where they can best contribute to climate success.
Minnesota’s 2026 Climate Action Framework outlines hundreds of discrete actions across sectors, moving beyond broad recommendations to identify concrete steps for state agencies, local governments, businesses, and other partners. By grounding ambitious goals in these practical considerations, Minnesota’s framework helps bridge the gap between planning and execution.
Building relationships that make implementation possible
Climate action work does not occur in a static environment. Technologies advance, markets evolve, federal and state policies shift, and economic conditions change. A planning process that builds strong relationships is better equipped to adapt as these conditions evolve.
Minnesota’s process reflects an understanding that engagement is not a one-time input. It is an ongoing investment in the strong relationships needed to make progress. The sector-based conversations provided the opportunity to strengthen connections among key stakeholders and gain familiarity with one another’s constraints and capabilities. They helped participants develop a shared commitment and vision for the work. The hope is that this relational infrastructure will extend beyond a single framework update, making it easier to integrate new information, navigate emerging challenges, and sustain momentum.
GPI served a similar role in the development of Minnesota’s first climate plan, published back in 2022, and witnessed the benefits of this relational infrastructure firsthand. Through the 2026 update, we’re grateful for the opportunity to continue meaningful partnership and engagement with Minnesota’s stakeholders, many of whom took part in developing the first plan.
Supporting state leadership on climate and energy solutions
At GPI, we work with public and private sector partners across the country to craft energy solutions that benefit people, the economy, and the environment. We would like to thank the Minnesota state officials, advisory council members, and everyone who participated in the sector-based conversations, whose time and expertise strengthened this effort.
If your state is looking for assistance with its climate action planning efforts, we’d love to connect.
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As a senior policy manager on GPI’s Energy Systems team, Tricia Treece helps lead this work by supporting state and regional climate and clean energy planning and implementation. Her specialties include air quality planning and analysis, science and policy communication, policy development, program design and management, grant writing, and facilitation. Tricia provided overall project management for the sector-based conversations, designed structure engagement materials, and facilitated the greenhouse gas modeling conversation series.
Amy Ward is a policy research specialist on the Energy Systems team. She supports GPI’s state assistance body of work by conducting technical and policy research in support of project deliverables, supporting inter- and intra-agency coordination, and meeting development. Amy specializes in climate funding and finance and supporting communities experiencing energy and economic-related transitions. Amy assisted with the overall coordination of the sector-based conversations and provided meeting support for two conversation series: Climate Equity and Resilient Communities.
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