Yesterday, more than 100 investors, companies, and institutions across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic signed onto a letter encouraging their respective states to adopt the Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI). A regional collaboration, TCI is a cap-and-invest program designed to reduce pollution from the transportation sector, which currently accounts for 43% of the region’s carbon emissions.

In letters sent to 11 governors and the mayor of D.C., the signatories wrote:

“We are a diverse group of organizations and businesses united by the extraordinary opportunity to modernize and decarbonize our region’s transportation system… We believe that the policy created through TCI will achieve several of our shared goals focused on responding to the impacts of COVID-19: deploying necessary clean transportation technologies; mitigating greenhouse gas emissions from transportation; investing in much-needed public transit, alternative transportation and road infrastructure; and more.” 

Proceeds collected through the program would be invested in repairing and modernizing each state’s transportation infrastructure. These investments would support mass transit, electric vehicles, and make commuting safer, faster, and more reliable. 

By 2032, proceeds collected through the program could reach $8.5 billion. Analysis by public health experts estimate that TCI could avoid as many as 4,700 childhood asthma cases and 1,100 premature deaths over the next decade. 

Companies supporting TCI include Schneider Electric, Unilever, State Street Corporation, Uber, Lyft, and DHL, which all have more than $100 million in annual revenue or at least $1 billion in assets under management. The letter concludes, “The existing transportation system is a roadblock to our economic and our climate goals. We feel an urgency to create a transportation future that enables economic growth and substantial decarbonization.”