Australia's Labor governments have committed to having zero net carbon emissions by 2050 as the federal government remains split on energy policy.
The governments of Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and the ACT have jointly declared they will lead the country towards a clean energy future.
"We have all committed to reducing our emissions to net zero by 2050," their leaders said in a joint statement on Thursday.
Former US vice president Al Gore, who was in Melbourne for an environment conference, said the states' plan was "extremely impressive".
"This is an inspiring act of leadership," he told reporters.
"I have a chance to see similar initiatives all over the world and none is better".
Mr Gore said the renewable energy sector had some of the fastest job growth in the world.
"State governments that take the initiative to provide leadership in renewable energy are actually creating jobs much faster than those areas of the world that are lagging behind," Mr Gore said.
Victoria committed to growing renewable energy by 25 per cent by 2020, and almost double that by 2025.
"Not only will this mean more energy generation in our mix driving down energy prices for all consumers, it will create up to 11,000 new jobs for our state," Victorian Energy Minister Lily D'Ambrosio said.
Victoria will soon enshrine renewable energy targets for the state in new laws.
Ms D'Ambrosio said states were forced to go it alone when the federal government "went backwards" on renewable energy policy.
"When we stand still at a national level we are actually taking Australians backwards and we're not doing that in Victoria," Ms D'Ambrosio said.
ACT Climate Change Minister Shane Rattenbury said the territory was well on its way to hitting its goal of 100 per cent renewable energy by 2020.
South Australian Energy Minister Tom Koutsantonis said his state would go it alone on a clean energy target if the measure wasn't endorsed by the federal government.
The commitment comes after Tesla entrepreneur Elon Musk announced he would build the world's largest lithium-ion battery in South Australia.
