Montana, the Big Sky State, is famous not only for its sprawling skies but also its wide-open, mountainous lands. Montana is the fourth largest state, at over 145 thousand square miles, but the forty-fourth most populous, with only just over one million residents. There are more cows in Montana than there are people and agriculture is an important part of the state’s economy. Almost 30% of that acreage is public lands — Montana is home to seven national forests and over fifty state parks.
CLIMATE IMPACT
Unfortunately, Montana’s formidable natural landscape is facing the degradation of climate collapse.
- In the past century, Montana has warmed about 5 degrees (F), higher than the warming for the United States as a whole.
- Drought follows heat. Montana faces one of the worst drought threats in the country, second only to Texas, to such an extent that the future of water availability in the state is of pressing concern, and, by extension, the viability of agricultural yields.
- As the soil dries up, trees have died and become kindling to wildfires, which are increasingly frequent. Of all the western states, Montana has seen the largest percentage increase in the number of fires.
- These changes have cascading effects on Montana’s natural ecosystems. For example, dying trees and dry soils increases the risk of forest insect outbreaks. Additionally, a warmer climate means less yearly snowfall and more snowmelt during winter. Both of these conditions reduce snowpack, which can shorten the ski season — a major source of revenue for Montana. One report found that Montana could lose 11,000 jobs and $281 million in labor earnings in its outdoor economy by 2050 if nothing is done to curb emissions, while the agriculture industry could lose over $181 million per year in labor earnings. A diminished snowpack can even allow for tree lines to move to higher altitudes, threatening alpine tundra ecosystems.
ENERGY
Montana has the largest estimated coal reserves in the country (about 30%) and produces 4% of the nation’s coal, making it the fifth largest coal-producing state. While coal has been declining over the past decade due to renewable energy and the retiring of coal-fired power plants, it still accounted for 35% of the state’s generation in 2025. Montana is ranked in the top 10 states for renewable electricity, and its fast moving rivers and vast plains make the state an ideal place for hydroelectric and wind energy generation. In 2025 hydropower produced 34% of Montana’s total electricity generation, but this was a decline of 22% from 2022 due to drought conditions. With 6 of its 10 largest power plants being hydroelectric, Montana is 5th in the nation for hydropower and also home to the first tribally owned hydroelectric plant in the country. Wind power accounted for 22% of the state’s generation in 2025, while natural gas accounted for 5%. Montana had nearly 2000 megawatts wind generating capacity in 2025. While solar energy only accounted for 2% in 2025, that’s still seven times greater than in 2022. Montana has no nuclear power plants.
CLIMATE PLANS AND LEGISLATION
- In 2005, Montana enacted an Renewable Portfolio Standard calling for 15% retail electricity sales from renewable sources by 2015. Utilities reached the requirement in 2015 and continued to exceed. In 2021 the state legislature repealed the RPS.
- In 2007, The Montana Climate Change Action Committee agreed upon 54 policy recommendations meant to reduce Montana’s greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2020. However, by 2017, carbon dioxide emissions had risen 13% from 1990.
- In 2017, the Montana Institute on Ecosystems organized the collaborative interagency Montana Climate Assessment with the goal of driving knowledge-based policy. Building off the Climate Assessment, the Montana Institute on Ecosystems and Montana State University released a 2021 special report focusing on human health impacts driven by climate change.
- In a 2019 Executive Order, Governor Steve Bullock created the Montana Climate Solutions Council, which delivered the first draft of their Montana Climate Solutions Plan in early 2020 and their final 72-page report in August 2020, outlining strategies to help reach Bullock’s stated goal of bringing net greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2035. The report also recommends that the state reach net-zero emissions across the economy by 2050.
- Democratic former Gov. Steve Bullock joined the S. Climate Alliance in 2019 a nonpartisan group of two dozen states dedicated to fighting climate change and committed to achieving the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement.
- In July 2021, Gov. Greg Gianforte discontinued Montana’s membership in the U.S. Climate Alliance. Asked if the governor has established any specific or measurable targets to reach climate goals, spokesperson Brooke Stroyke responded, “… you can’t set arbitrary, predictive limitations on innovation, and we can’t and shouldn’t put guardrails on innovation and ingenuity to address climate change.”
- In May 2023, Governor Gianforte signed a law that Inside Climate News says could be the “nation’s most aggressive anti-climate change law.” HB971 bans state agencies from considering greenhouse gas emissions and other climate change impacts when conducting environmental reviews for projects, including coal mines and power plants. Meanwhile, a 2022 poll found that almost 60% of Montanans believe in climate change and want the state to take action, and over 95% of public comments opposed the new law.
- In March 2024 the state released the Montana Climate Pollution Reduction Priorities plan under the EPA’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grant program. The PCAP includes a Greenhouse Gas Inventory, GHG reduction measures, and a low-income and disadvantaged community benefits analysis. Under the program, Montana received funding to produce the Big Sky Emissions Reduction Roadmap, a comprehensive air pollution reduction plan currently in development by the Department of Environmental Quality. The plan’s description emphasizes its focus will be on reducing emissions “through innovation, not regulation,” through voluntary actions while “rejecting government mandates.”
- While statewide plans falter in Minnesota, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation have been releasing a Climate Change Strategic Plan since 2013, updated every three years, outlining wind energy development, water conservation, ecosystem restoration, and wildfire risk.
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
In a landmark climate ruling in December 2024, Montana’s Supreme Court upheld that the state was violating residents’ constitutional right to a clean environment. The lawsuit, Montana, was filed in 2020 by 16 young residents. Governor Gianforte characteristically disapproved of the decision and said the lawsuit was a “waste of taxpayer dollars.” (More about this and other youth climate litigation here). In retaliation, Republican lawmakers introduced bills in 2025 directly countering the ruling. The bills, which were signed into law by Governor Gianforte in May 2025, rewrite sections of the Montana Environmental Policy Act to restrict the scope of environmental reviews, insisting they are for informational purposes only and should not be used to block the development of coal, oil and gas projects, and restrict the state from any stricter greenhouse gas pollution regulation than federal minimums. In January 2026, 16 young people from Montana represented by Our Children’s Trust (including 13 of the plaintiffs from the earlier case) filed a new case in, Held v. Montana II, arguing the new laws “directly contradict the original Held ruling, put blinders back on state agencies to ensure their ongoing approval of fossil fuel permits, and prevent state agencies from taking the necessary steps to reduce Montana’s GHG emissions.” The case is currently awaiting a decision from the court on the state’s partial motion to dismiss.
