Stepping Up Pace on Fighting Climate Change
Peter Shattuck, director of the Clean Energy Initiative at the Acadia Center, calls the agreement a major victory for bipartisan action to address climate change.
“This shows that northeast states are stepping up to fill the void left by the Trump administration’s irresponsible and misguided efforts to roll back every major environmental protection on the books,” he states.
RGGI estimates that extending the cap will bring carbon emissions in the region down 65 percent from 2009 levels. The Trump administration argues that environmental regulations hinder industrial development and economic growth.
The nine RGGI states together comprise the sixth-largest economy in the world, and Shattuck says RGGI’s record of pollution reduction and economic growth proves that the cooperative’s approach to fighting climate change can work.
“It puts a price on pollution, which unleashes innovative ways to avoid that pollution,” he points out. “And that’s what we’ve seen from RGGI and other market-based programs.”
But he cautions that the even these further carbon reductions by RGGI aren’t enough to slow global climate change. Shattuck says more states need to join in the effort, and move beyond RGGI’s mission of cutting power-plant pollution.
“This step helps clean up the electric sector, but we’re also going to need to tackle transportation, which is the largest source of climate pollution in the region and now, the country as a whole,” he stresses.
Read the full story from Public News Service here.
Environmentalists React to Regional Proposal to Cut Carbon Emissions
Peter Shattuck, director of the clean energy initiative for Acadia Center, said this proposal is what climate leadership looks like.
“(Rhode Island) Governor Raimondo and other governors have really stepped up to fill the void of the Trump administration’s misguided and irresponsible decision to roll back all our major climate policies (and) to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement,” Shattuck said.
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From 2008 to 2015, RGGI states have seen 3.6 percent more economic growth than non-RGGI states and electricity prices have gone down 3.4 percent regionally, according to a report by Acadia Center.
Read the full story from Rhode Island Public Radio here.
Northeast Strengthens Carbon Goals as Federal Rules Fade
“If you add it up, the RGGI states are the sixth-largest economy in the world. This is a significant development,” said Peter Shattuck, who directs the clean energy initiative at the Boston-based Acadia Center. “It shows states picking up on climate action in the wake of the Paris withdrawal.”
Read the full article from E&E News on Scientific American here.
Nine Northeast States Pledge More Power Plant Emissions Cuts
The Acadia Center has found RGGI states have reduced their emissions by 16 percent more than other states, the region’s economy grew 3.6 percent more than the rest of the country and energy prices fell by 3.4 percent, compared to a national rise of 7.2 percent.
Read the full article from Power Engineering Magazine here.
RGGI Agrees to Reduce Carbon Emissions by Another 30%
To prevent this, the states will further lower RGGI’s cap in 2021-2025 by the amount of excess allowances sold and banked between 2014 and 2020 (the same approach previously used to address banked allowances from 2009-2013). Our friends at Acadia Center estimate this could avoid an additional 48.5 million tons of carbon pollution (or more).
Read the full blog post from NRDC on Microgrid Knowledge here.
ME and 8 Other States Pledge to Reduce Emissions by 30%
“This is what climate leadership looks like”, said Peter Shattuck, director of the Acadia Center in MA.
Read the full article from Express Newsline here.
CT, other states agree to tighter emissions cap
“Strengthening RGGI is one of the most effective and important steps to tackle climate pollution,” Peter Shattuck, director of Acadia Center’s Clean Energy Initiative, said in a statement. “Market based policies unleash the innovation and investment needed to achieve state climate targets and the goals of the Paris Agreement, and RGGI has shown just how well smart climate policy works.”
Read the full article from the Hartford Business Journal here.
Major Climate Success in Northeast: World’s 6th Largest Economy Filling the Void of Federal Inaction
Boston, MA – A bipartisan coalition of Northeast and Mid-Atlantic Governors today committed to extending and strengthening their landmark climate cooperative, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). The agreement places RGGI states – which collectively comprise the 6th largest economy in the world, ahead of France, India and Brazil 1 – in the vanguard of climate action following the Trump administration’s misguided decision to withdraw from the Paris Accord.
“RGGI governors today showed what real leadership looks like,” said Daniel Sosland, president of Acadia Center. “The Trump Administration has turned the federal government’s back on the historic opportunity to build a clean energy future that reduces climate pollution, and the need to safeguard consumers and the climate has shifted to the states and regions. Strengthening RGGI is critical to demonstrating the benefits of climate action and filling the void of irresponsible federal policy.”
RGGI governors announced a number of improvements that will reduce carbon pollution by over 132 million tons through 2030, the equivalent of taking over 28 million cars off the road for a year:
- Extending the pollution cap to 2030, when it would decline 30% from 2020 levels
- Conducting a further downward cap adjustment of approximately 25 million tons to account for surplus banked emissions allowances
- Higher ceiling prices for emissions allowances
- Creation of an innovative Emissions Containment Reserve to soak up extra allowances that go unsold at regional auctions
“Strengthening RGGI is one of the most effective and important steps to tackle climate pollution,” said Peter Shattuck, Director of Acadia Center’s Clean Energy Initiative. “Market based policies unleash the innovation and investment needed to achieve state climate targets and the goals of the Paris Agreement, and RGGI has shown just how well smart climate policy works.”
Since its inception, RGGI has been an unparalleled success.
- Carbon dioxide emissions from power plants in the region have dropped 40%, while participating states’ economies have grown by 25%. 2
- Electricity prices have declined 3.4% in RGGI states since the program launched, compared with a 7.2% increase in electricity prices for states yet to act on climate. 3
- RGGI has added over 30,000 jobs to the regional workforce. 4
- Declining emissions from CO2 have been accompanied by reductions in other hazardous pollutants, making the air cleaner and avoiding $5.7 billion in healthcare impacts. 5
“State and regional action is delivering major success through RGGI,” said Jordan Stutt, Policy Analyst at Acadia Center. “RGGI is helping to create the clean electric sector that will provide the backbone to a wider clean economy. We applaud Governors Baker, Cuomo, Raimondo, Scott and Malloy on this decision, and look forward to continuing climate leadership, including steps to tackle transportation – the region’s largest source of climate pollution.”
1. RGGI on the World Stage, Acadia Center, June 2017, available at: http://acadiacenter.org/document/rggi-on-the-world-stage/
2. The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative Status Report: Measuring Success, Acadia Center, July 2016, available at: http://acadiacenter.org/document/measuring-rggi-success/.
3. I.d.
4. The Economic Impacts of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative on Ten Northeast and Mid-Atlantic States, Paul Hibbard et al., Analysis Group, November 2011, available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20170313223228/http://www.analysisgroup.com/uploadedfiles/content/insights/publishing/economic_impact_rggi_report.pdf and The Economic Impacts of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative on Nine Northeast and Mid-Atlantic States, July 2015, available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20170313223308/http://www.analysisgroup.com/uploadedfiles/content/insights/publishing/analysis_group_rggi_report_july_2015.pdf.
5. Analysis of the Public Health Impacts of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, 2009-2014, Michelle Manion et al., Abt Associates, January 2017, available at: http://abtassociates.com/RGGI.
Media Contacts:
Dan Sosland, President
dsosland@acadiacenter.org, 207.236.6470
Peter Shattuck, Director, Clean Energy Initiative
pshattuck@acadiacenter.org, 857.636.2502
Carbon Cap Proposal Reflects Nine States’ Compromise
The coalition includes Calpine Corp., Exelon Corp., and Public Service Electric & Gas Company, in addition to the Natural Resources Defense Council and Acadia Center.
Read the full article from Bloomberg BNA here.
Northeast states eye more stringent air pollution restrictions
Peter Shattuck of the Boston-based environmental group Acadia Center and director of the group’s Clean Energy Initiative, said the federal government’s withdrawal from international efforts to reduce greenhouse gasses “has created a void that is being filled by the states through groups like RGGI.” Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont are Connecticut’s partners in RGGI, which makes the group a formidable force in international efforts to reduce global warming, according to Shattuck.
“The RGGI states combined represent the sixth-largest economy in the world,” he said. Acadia Center is a Boston-based environmental group with offices in Connecticut.
Read the full article from the New Haven Register here.