Amid a tumultuous federal landscape for climate policy, Vermont’s Climate Council has adopted a new Climate Action Plan.
The document is a roadmap for how the state can comply with its statutory commitment to reduce climate warming greenhouse gas emissions in the next four years.
The council voted 13 to 5 last week to approve the plan, with several members of the Scott administration voting against the plan over concerns about affordability.
Vermont’s last Climate Action Plan was released in 2021 during a period of historic federal support for climate action — in hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding the state received and through new federal programs aimed at curbing emissions.
That era is coming to a close federally as the Trump administration rolls back or proposes funding cuts for Biden-era climate programs.
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Meanwhile, Vermont is on track to sail past its first self-imposed deadline to curb its own emissions, and the state has yet to adopt the biggest carbon-slashing policies outlined in the last Climate Action Plan.
Most notably, a clean heat standard — which attempted to curb emissions from heating buildings — faltered in the Legislature over concerns about how such an ambitious policy would affect affordability.
Now, many — but not all — members of the Scott administration say the state needs to proceed with caution and take smaller steps to curb emissions as federal funding and subsidies go away.
But many environmental advocates on the council and those representing rural communities in the state argue Vermont’s and other states’ actions are only more important as climate change continues to wreak expensive havoc locally, and as the federal government seeks to bolster the United States’ dependence on fossil fuels.
What is the Climate Action Plan?
Back in 2020, Vermont committed by law under the Global Warming Solutions Act to cut emissions dramatically to:
- 26% below 2005 levels by 2025
- 40% below 1990 levels by 2030
- 80% below 1990 levels by 2050
This latest plan focuses on the 2030 deadline and the 2050 deadline.
This new plan includes more than 250 recommendations for how Vermont could cut emissions and become more resilient to climate change.
Where are we starting from?
Vermont emits more greenhouse gas emissions per capita than almost any other New England state — in large part because of how much we drive. Meeting our statutory climate commitments will require big cuts in emissions from heating buildings and from transportation, and the state has not reduced emissions by much in its most polluting sectors in recent years.
If you look at Vermont's greenhouse gas emissions now, ranked by source (according to Vermont's 2021 Greenhouse Gas Inventory):
- Transportation accounts for about 39%
- Heating buildings: about 31%
- Agriculture: about 16%
- Non-energy emissions (including industrial processes and waste management): 11%
- Electricity: 3%
In general, switching away from fossil fuels for home heat or transportation costs money upfront, but has the potential to yield big savings down the line.
Using fossil fuels for home heat and transit is also costly, especially for low- and moderate- income households in the state. Over the last four years, Vermonters have spent an average of $2.2 billion on fossil fuels — similar to the state’s annual budget for K-12 education.
How is the Climate Action Plan recommending Vermont reduce emissions in the next few years?
The plan’s recommendations include the following:
- Explore joining one of two existing “cap and invest” programs — the Western Climate Initiative or a new program being designed by New York state — to collect fees on imported fossil fuels and use that money to help Vermonters afford electric vehicles, weatherization and electric or lower carbon heat.
- Weatherize 79,000 more homes, especially for low- and moderate-income Vermonters.
- Cut emissions from cars and buildings through electrification.
- Allow utilities to try innovative programs to fund grid upgrades, so our poles and wires can handle more electricity.
- Find funding to help low and moderate income households upgrade their electrical infrastructure – panels and service and wiring — to be ready for things like electric hot water heaters and heat pumps.
- Let more of Vermont’s forests grow old — 9% across the landscape and continue efforts to conserve 30% of Vermont’s land by 2030 and 50% by 2050.
How is Vermont’s new Climate Action Plan different from the 2021 version?
This plan focuses much more on how Vermont towns can adapt to climate change. For example, it calls for new funds to help towns adapt to flooding and to help farms recover from floods. It also recommends a statewide climate change curriculum in public schools.
The plan calls out a dire shortage of skilled tradespeople to weatherize homes, install heat pumps and electric hot water heaters and upgrade electrical systems. In response, the Climate Council is calling for a statewide workforce training effort to support young people in getting into the trades, farming and forestry.
It also suggests paying farmers and landowners who manage their land in ways that take more carbon out of the air for their contributions to Vermont's climate goals and bolstering funding for this sort of land management.
How has the political landscape in Vermont and in Washington changed? What teeth does this plan have?
The Biden administration was an unprecedented era of federal funding for climate action — and that era is closing as the Trump administration pulls back on climate programs and policies. For example, Vermont currently weatherizes about 4,000 homes per year, at a cost of $11,000 per project, largely using federal funds that are expected to diminish or disappear, according to the plan's authors.
Vermont’s politics have changed, as well. The Climate Council seems to have heard people’s concerns that the grid, their homes, and their wallets were not ready for some of the upfront cost of what the last plan proposed — even if modeling shows that weatherizing, switching to electric transit and heat and upgrading to more efficient appliances tends to save costs over time. This one focuses on getting Vermont’s infrastructure prepped for the energy transition.
