When the MI Healthy Climate conference kicked off earlier this month, anxieties around the nation’s climate policy likely plagued the minds of attendees, with President Donald Trump once again pulling the United States out of the Paris climate agreement and working to dismantle efforts to combat climate change and environmental injustice.
However, Michigan found itself in a similar position not so long ago, Phil Roos, the director of Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy told attendees while delivering the opening speech for the conference.
When Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist took office in 2019, the U.S. was also working to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement. However, Whitmer brought Michigan into the U.S. Climate Alliance, joining other states in their commitment to advancing the Paris Agreement’s goals.
The Whitmer administration also assembled a council on climate solutions alongside the state’s environmental justice advisory council, Roos said, as the administration began to organize actions in state government around climate and justice, eventually looking at ways to capture the economic benefits associated with a transition to clean energy.
This culminated in the passage of the state 2023 clean energy package, which laid out specific goals in shifting Michigan’s energy supply to clean energy resources, with the goal of 100% clean energy by 2040.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signs clean energy legislation at Detroit’s Eastern Market, Nov. 28, 2023 | Jon King In 2024, EGLE’s efforts shifted toward implementing this plan, getting clean energy into communities that would benefit from it the most through programs like the catalyst communities initiative and the MI Justice 40 Accelerator, which provided disadvantaged communities with support in accessing federal climate funding.
And it’s not just the state helping to roll out and support climate action, Roos said.
“It’s also a local government effort and it’s nonprofits, it’s for-profits, it’s government, it’s all of the above and that’s the way it has to be to make it work,” Roos said.
While the 2024 election has led to anxieties around federal funding cuts, the turbulent dynamics of federal politics has some people asking whether the state should continue to work on environmental justice and climate.
“What I wanted to say right now is we don’t have any choice,” Roos said, emphasizing that the science on climate hasn’t changed.
More than 99% of peer-reviewed studies on climate conclude that climate change is caused by human activity, up from 97% reported in a 2013 study examining the level of consensus in scientific studies on climate change.
“The challenge that we have is as urgent and critical as it has ever been. We may have politics that have changed, but we, the people of Michigan, still need to be able to breathe clean air. We still have people in the state, we’d kind of like to lower their electric fields. We have people whose basements have flooded and might want us to continue to upgrade our infrastructure to protect from the next and the next 100 year flood,” Roos said.
There are businesses looking to capitalize on Michigan’s transition to renewables, Roos said, stressing that this effort can’t wait. He later told the audience that just as Michigan began its healthy climate efforts without external and federal efforts, it can do so again today.
Speaking with the Michigan Advance on the second day of the conference, Roos remained optimistic on the state’s efforts to continue working towards the goals laid out in Whitmer’s MI Healthy Climate Plan.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said she would stand by her climate goals amid a challenging federal landscape during the MI Healthy Climate Conference in Detroit on April 23, 2025. | Kyle Davidson While the status of federal funding for a number of climate efforts remains uncertain, Roos noted that the Healthy Climate Plan predates the $145.4 billion authorized by former President Joe Biden to combat climate change.
“We know what has to be accomplished,” Roos said.
“We know what has to be achieved in different areas of the economy, society and we know that. I mean, we went after the federal funding because it was there and it can help accelerate certain aspects of the plan, but achieving those goals isn’t primarily dependent on federal funding,” Roos said.
When speaking with the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on EGLE in March, Roos explained that 94% of the department’s ongoing funding comes from restricted revenue sources and federal funding, meaning that they are legally obligated to spend those dollars for a set purpose. Federal funding also makes up the largest share of its budget, almost 40%, he said.
Roos told the Advance that the largest amount of that money comes from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, in the form of categorical grants. The EPA delegates certain activities, like protecting the air and water, and partially covers those costs, he explained.
Thus far, the department has not seen signs that those funds will be cut, Roos said, and while there are federal funds that support efforts in the MI Healthy Climate plan, those are the minority.
EGLE has similarly felt confident enough to move forward with the launch of its home energy rebate program, which provides eligible households with up to $34,000 in rebates for energy efficiency upgrades to their home and appliances. The effort is supported by $211 million in federal dollars.
The other positive for Michigan’s climate efforts, is that the 2023 clean energy laws provide a legal standard for EGLE’s efforts on renewable energy, Roos said, setting clear targets for greenhouse gas reduction, energy efficiency standards and goals for state energy regulators in evaluating electrical providers.
“Funding is great and helpful, and we can accelerate certain elements of it, and we will take it and hope to have it still on some of these areas, but we will continue to find ways to achieve those goals. We may have to take little detours around the way, but so far we’re just charging forward,” Roos said.
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