The Long Game

RGGI RUMBLE — A coalition of green groups is rallying to push Eastern states to move faster to set climate goals for the power sector, according to letters shared with POLITICO.

The environmentalists “have grown increasingly concerned with the lack of communication and engagement” from the 10 Northeast and mid-Atlantic states participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a program that caps and prices power sector pollution, your host reports.

The letters, sent to top environmental officials in the member states, come as RGGI continues to work on a significantly delayed program review meant to broadly assess the program’s impacts and set the next round of climate targets.

The review that started in early 2021 was originally supposed to finish by January 2023. The delays are largely attributable to uncertainties regarding participation in RGGI by Pennsylvania and Virginia, swing states where the carbon market has become intensely controversial.

Groups like Acadia Center, the environmental nonprofit that led the letters, have issued proposals for consideration during the review, including setting an emissions cap that lowers to zero by 2040 and mandates spending focused on overburdened communities.

To read the full newsletter from POLITICO, click here.