Maine Won’t Wait, A Four-Year Plan for Climate Action

On December 1, 2020, the Maine Climate Council released its report, “Maine Won’t Wait, A Four-Year Plan for Climate Action,” to Governor Janet Mills. The focus now turns to the governor and legislature to transition the Plan’s priorities and strategies into legislative and regulatory initiatives.

Not everyone thought it would be possible to build a consensus-driven, aggressive roadmap to addressing the relentless effects of climate change. In fact, in early 2020, the December 1 deadline for finalizing Maine’s Climate Action Plan seemed very far away. The enormity of Covid-19 was taking hold and many were struggling to care for their families, adjust to working remotely and Zoom calls, and balancing the immense stress and anxiety of this extraordinary time.  However, Governor Mills and her staff  assured the approximately 230 Council and Working Group Members, including Acadia Center, of how important our work was and that despite the coronavirus taking its toll on the health, welfare, and wallets of Mainers, the climate challenge wasn’t going away and a climate plan must be a top priority. Now we are ready to implement the Maine Climate Action Plan in a way that maximizes investment in renewable energy, efficient buildings, clean transportation, healthier communities, and our most vulnerable citizens, while driving a clean energy economic recovery.

The Climate Action Plan confronts the extreme impacts of climate change on Maine’s coastal communities, public health, fishing and marine industries, forests, and low-income and other vulnerable populations. Not all strategies are created equal, and the state of Maine will want to focus on those that deliver the biggest bang for their buck. This Plan represents the most significant and comprehensive effort to map out the actions that are needed to reduce climate pollution and create new jobs as part of the transition to a clean energy economy. It sets out strategies based on scientific assessments of the reduction levels needed to help protect our economy, people, and environment from severe impacts of climate change. The final Climate Action Plan includes substantial increases in electric vehicles and residential heat pumps, additional support for renewable energy projects, and assistance to improve community resilience. There are also strong recommendations to protect natural and working lands and forests across the state, which absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

The Plan will not be successful without a robust political and financial commitment to implement its strategies. The federal government will also need to step up to support states like Maine in investing in clean energy, a modern transportation system, and resilient infrastructure. While the Plan has gaps, especially in its limited support of a regional Transportation & Climate Initiative (TCI) we believe this blueprint will lead to significantly lower greenhouse gas levels, and importantly, a diversity of opportunities for a diversity of Mainers. With a new federal administration coming into office in 2021 with a commitment to climate, state, regional and local work to advance a clean energy and transportation future, we are optimistic about the opportunities and vision Maine’s Climate Action Plan lays out.

There is no single silver bullet to address climate change. We need to attack it from multiple angles, try many approaches. Maine’s Climate Action Plan tackles this intractable challenge holistically and determinedly. With it, we will make the changes needed for a healthier planet and better lives for all Mainers.

Critical Elements of the Plan:

• Significantly expanding beneficial electrification for heating and transportation.
• Deploying high-speed broadband to 95% of Maine homes by 2025 and 99% by 2030.
• Increasing public transportation funding to the national median of $5 per capita by 2024.
• Increasing weatherization, especially for low-income and rural households.
• Phasing in modern, energy efficient building codes to reach net zero carbon emissions for new construction by 2035 and incorporate mass timber and wood-fiber insulation into new building structures.
• Leveraging additional procurements of clean energy supply with specific development targets for offshore wind, smaller distributed energy resources, and energy storage.
• Minimizing environmental and community impacts of renewable energy siting by focusing on early engagement with key stakeholders and the public.
• Initiating a power transformation stakeholder process to pursue utility innovation and grid modernization.
• Marrying Maine’s natural resources and cleantech workforce and innovation to create and maintain good-paying, sustainable jobs.
• Increasing investments in Maine forest conservation and carbon sequestration.

With the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, the economy, and a transition to a more climate-friendly President, it is particularly critical now that the final Climate Action Plan spurs robust, sustainable, and equitable solutions for the economic, energy, and environmental benefit of all Mainers. Acadia Center will be working with partners and policymakers to pursue legislative, regulatory, and programmatic initiatives that mitigate emissions from buildings, electricity, and vehicles while ensuring that Maine’s most vulnerable and rural communities are not left behind in such challenging times.

 

 

Transportation and Climate Initiative: Brief Update on the State MOU Announcement

On December 21, 2020, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island, and the District of Columbia announced their participation in the Transportation and Climate Initiative Program (TCI-P) by signing onto a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).  Acadia Center believes this represents a major milestone in a project that we have long championed and a critical component of our vision for a just and sustainable future. We offer some comments on the announcement.

The four jurisdictions participating in the program need to achieve significant emission reductions from the transportation sector to meet their ambitious climate targets. Transportation pollution accounts for 46% of the CO₂ emissions across Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Washington, D.C., which is more than double the contribution to climate change from any other sector. Participation in the TCI program will enable these jurisdictions to invest hundreds of millions of dollars each year in clean transportation projects that create jobs, boost the economy, improve mobility, and slash pollution. For those reasons, the TCI program is the first transportation strategy discussed in the Baker administration’s newly released 2030 Clean Energy and Climate Plan, which is designed to achieve a 45% reduction in GHG emissions by 2030. Whether Massachusetts sticks with the Baker administration’s 45% reduction target or the legislature’s newly passed climate bill with a 50% by 2030 requirement, the TCI program will play a critical role in delivering a cleaner, more equitable transportation system.

Acadia Center has played a central role in the TCI Process

• In the spring of 2017, Acadia Center convened the first meeting of TCI advocates from the region, launched a regional advocates listserv and began hosting bi-weekly TCI advocates calls. Acadia Center played a leading role in creating Our Transportation Future, the public face of the regional TCI advocates network.
• In January 2018, Acadia Center partnered with the Fletcher School at Tufts University to host the Future of Transportation Symposium, convening regional stakeholders, academics, and Baker administration officials for an exploration of TCI and other clean transportation opportunities.
• In early 2019, Acadia Center, the Green Justice Coalition, and T4MA launched the MA TCI Table, a new forum designed with intentionality to balance the perspectives of the Commonwealth’s environmental, transportation, and justice communities. By welcoming all voices to the Table, particularly those with concerns about the TCI program, we started and sustained a dialogue around TCI and our shared vision for a sustainable and equitable transportation future. The Table also created a new venue for direct engagement between stakeholders, the Baker Administration, and legislative leaders, allowing them to hear our support, our concerns, and offering a pathway for collaboration on policy solutions.
• Due to the success of the MA TCI Table, Acadia Center replicated the model alongside partners in Connecticut and Rhode Island. Across southern New England, these forums have united stakeholders, engaged state decisionmakers, and delivered the support necessary for governors to sign the TCI MOU.
• Throughout the process, Acadia Center has been committed not just to delivering the policy, but to getting the details right. From analysis of the emissions cap to protections for overburdened communities, Acadia Center has worked with our partners across the region to provide the TCI states with actionable recommendations for a robust and equitable program. In November of 2020, as the states worked to put the finishing touches on the MOU, Acadia Center organized, helped draft, and submitted a sign-on letter with 200 signatory organizations containing specific recommendations for a TCI Program that would meet the needs of the region’s communities and the urgency of the climate crisis. Many of the recommendations in that letter were incorporated into the MOU, including the more stringent emissions cap, the commitment to air quality monitoring in environmental justice communities, and the requirement for TCI-funded investment in overburdened and underserved communities to be at least proportional to the populations of those communities.

Additional Content on the MOU

The collaboration between Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Washington, D.C. represents action at a significant scale. With a combined GDP of $1.09 trillion, the participating jurisdictions would be the world’s 15th largest economy, similar in output to Mexico. The MOU charts an ambitious emission reduction trajectory. The emissions cap will decline by 30% from 2023 to 2032, consistent with recommendations Acadia Center submitted on behalf of 200 organizations in November. Reducing CO₂ emissions from transportation fuels by 30% will help states achieve their climate targets while delivering critical improvements in air quality. While additional policies are necessary to achieve Acadia Center’s vision for a just and sustainable future, TCI has an important role to play in that transition.

TCI jurisdictions have worked to incorporate stakeholder feedback to make the program more equitable and ambitious. Important new provisions have been added to last year’s draft MOU to ensure that overburdened and underserved communities receive at least their proportional share of TCI proceeds, that those communities are included in investment decisions and program design, and that air quality monitors will be deployed in the most polluted communities. These commitments represent significant progress at the regional level, but states—and advocates—have much more work to do to develop stakeholder processes and policy solutions that meet the needs of their communities. An equitably-designed TCI program will benefit overburdened and underserved communities, but the participation of those communities in that process is critical. TCI is just one piece of the puzzle: other action, like guaranteed pollution reduction in environmental justice communities and affordable, reliable transit, will still be necessary to deliver transportation justice.

Recent polling shows that 71% of the region’s voters support their state participating in the TCI program, and almost 80% support using TCI revenue to modernize and expand public transit service.

We are particularly gratified that the three states joining the MOU are those where Acadia Center played a leadership role working with many diverse voices to advance support for TCI in coalitions like the Massachusetts TCI Table, who worked together to build respectful working relationships.  These strong coalitions successfully championed a common set of priorities and messages when engaging with decision makers and key stakeholders and preparing public facing materials showing the benefits of TCI.

The four MOU signatories deserve credit for leading the way, and all signs point towards the program growing before the official launch in 2023. While the four-jurisdiction program would be significant in its own right, we expect that, much like RGGI, the program will launch with more states than were on the initial MOU. In a separate document, the four MOU signatories were joined by eight other TCI member states to assert that they are collaborating on the next steps of the cap-and-invest program’s development, suggesting that the program will expand beyond southern New England and D.C. Notably, this list includes a new TCI member, North Carolina, demonstrating the appeal of the TCI framework. All together, these jurisdictions would represent the world’s third largest economy.

Forward-Looking Acadia Center TCI Priorities

As Acadia Center highlighted in a recent NYT article, this four-jurisdiction TCI Program is just the beginning.  Acadia Center is dedicated to continued efforts to support equitable TCI implementation, garner further state commitments, and build the case for TCI with stakeholders and policymakers.

In our core target states of CT, MA and RI, Acadia Center will:

• Work with community-based partners and state agencies to ensure the program is implemented equitably
• Identify high-impact investment opportunities that improve local air quality, deliver better transportation options, and help states achieve their climate targets
• Where necessary, support enabling legislation to grant states authority to participate in TCI Program

Regionally and in other TCI states, Acadia Center will:

• Strategically build the case for TCI participation with governors’ offices, state agencies, legislators and key stakeholders and address points made by TCI opponents. As an example, Acadia Center’s recently published op-ed in the Portland Press Herald demonstrates that it is not too late for Governor Mills to bring the TCI program’s benefits to Mainers.
• Quantify and highlight the in-state benefits of TCI participation, and identify the lost benefits and missed opportunity for states that opt out.
• Continue to lead and coordinate activities of the regional TCI advocates network.

 

Opinion: Newport opts for the best value

The Dec. 18 article “Newport opts for electric heat over gas” mischaracterizes the non-infrastructure solution and misleads the reader. The writer points to a table that looks only at National Grid’s estimate of total costs but says nothing of the economic benefits customers receive in each scenario. No rational consumer ignores the benefits when evaluating investment choices and the Newport and Portsmouth Councils made the correct decision when endorsing the non-infrastructure approach. To see the value proposition of each solution, one must simply read forward in National Grid’s own study to Figure 16 on Page 97. Examining this table, which includes proven and measurable near- and long-term benefits to consumers, one readily sees the non-infrastructure solution as the best value to replace the Old Mill Lane Liquefied Natural Gas facility in Portsmouth.

The reason is simple: much of National Grid’s projected costs of the non-infrastructure solution are in the form of incentives—ratepayer funds that go back into the hands of customers for home improvements that provide economic benefits through measures like weatherization and replacement of fossil fuel appliances. These measures increase home values and lower consumers’ overall energy needs. Weatherization methods, like insulation and draft sealing, help reduce the amount of heated or cooled air your home loses each season. Meanwhile, modern electric replacements of fossil fuel appliances deliver superior performance and safety at higher efficiency. For instance, electric heat pumps are at least 300% more energy efficient than even the best gas furnaces. Electric heat pumps also work in reverse to provide energy efficient air conditioning in the summer months—one system for all seasons.

Utilities earn more ratepayer money when they build new infrastructure, like gas mains to serve new customers. So it is no wonder National Grid doesn’t support a moratorium on new gas connections. Since your home already has the electricity to run electric heat pumps and other electric appliances, National Grid wouldn’t benefit as much financially from pursuing the non-infrastructure solution. Conversely, the utility proposals to build new gas infrastructure generally provide more financial benefit to the utility than to customers—they will enable National Grid to expand its customer base, sell more gas, and collect more revenue for shareholders.

Ultimately, National Grid will be spending your ratepayer dollars on a solution. Shouldn’t it be the one that reduces your energy needs, improves air quality through electrification, and increases safety by reducing our communities’ exposure to explosive and toxic gas?

Read the 0p-ed by Hank Webster, our Rhode Island Director in the Newport Daily News here.

Massachusetts drivers are starting to buy electric cars again

Clean transportation activists are praising Massachusetts’ efforts to expand its electric vehicle incentives while also arguing for changes that would put vehicles within reach for more households.

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Electric vehicle sales are slowly rebounding in the state: In September, the number of new purchases submitted for an incentive payment more than doubled from the previous month, from 156 to 339. In October, the number edged up to 345.

These totals fall well short of the peaks reached in 2018, but those who follow the industry are cautiously optimistic, noting that vehicle sales across the board are starting to edge back up from COVID-driven slumps. And the electric vehicle market, they said, is recovering at a slightly faster rate than traditional internal combustion vehicles.

“There is some degree of recovery going on from COVID,” said Jordan Stutt, carbon programs director at the Acadia Center. “Obviously we have a long way to go there, but some people are buying cars again and a lot of those are [electric].”

Read the full article from the Energy News Network here

Commentary: Regional emission-reduction drive must be part of Maine’s transportation solution

One year ago, the Portland Press Herald ran my op-ed (Maine should take part in regional effort to cut transportation pollution, Dec. 29, 2019) calling for Maine to reduce its carbon emissions and transportation costs in “an economical, efficient, and equitable manner.” At that time, a consortium of Northeast and mid-Atlantic states had just announced the Transportation and Climate Initiative regional cap-and-invest plan designed to significantly reduce pollution from cars and trucks and provide critical funding for clean transportation solutions. The Maine Climate Council and its working groups were also rolling on an action plan to tackle the 54 percent of Maine’s greenhouse-gas emissions that emanate from its transportation sector. It was a New Year for environmental hope and progress!

Fast forward to today: Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and the District of Columbia stepped up and signed an agreement to participate in the Transportation and Climate Initiative. Under the agreement, participating states will focus on their specific priorities, including helping rural and low-income communities in need of more electric cars and trucks, public transit, walkable and bikable neighborhoods, less pollution and a modernized broadband network. In an accompanying statement, eight other states – Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Virginia and even North Carolina committed to continue work on the regional program while pursuing state specific initiatives to reduce emissions and provide clean transportation solutions.

Who’s missing? Maine.

The Maine Climate Council’s report, Maine Won’t Wait: A Four-Year Climate Action Plan, launched earlier this month, highlighted the urgency and scale of our transportation challenges, but failed to deliver adequate solutions. If Maine does not join the Transportation and Climate Initiative, where will the state secure funding for the strategies and actions laid out in the Climate Action Plan? If Maine does not join the conversation, how will we influence development of the model rule and ensure that the Transportation and Climate Initiative works for Maine, especially our rural communities?

Don’t get me wrong, Gov. Mills is and remains a climate leader and led Maine out of eight years of climate denial and rollbacks to steer Maine’s trajectory to more solar, wind, energy efficiency and beneficial electrification in buildings.

Participating in the Transportation and Climate Initiative with our peers across the region should be part of Maine’s transportation solution. By sitting on the sidelines, Maine could miss out on $50 million annually that would bolster our transportation system, support our people and boost our economy. The initiative is the only proposal on the table that guarantees reductions of emissions and provides sufficient, stable and sustainable investments to pay for clean, affordable vehicles, infrastructure and services that benefit all of Maine’s residents.  This is a lost opportunity for leadership on two of Maine’s most critical challenges: reducing pollution from the transportation sector and funding investments to give all Mainers access to affordable, reliable, sustainable transportation options.

It’s important for Maine to participate so we can ensure that the program is designed to benefit the unique needs of a rural state. A recent study details enormous public health benefits from the Transportation and Climate Initiative, including up to $11 billion in annual health benefits, reducing racial health disparities, and avoiding up to 1,100 deaths and 4,700 childhood asthma cases. The Nature Conservancy has documented the clean-energy investments that could be made to expand access and affordability in rural communities using funds that come from a program like the Transportation and Climate Initiative. And surveys indicate that a majority of Mainers support engagement with the Transportation and Climate Initiative.

The good news is that Maine can still participate in the program and receive the cleaner air, improved transportation and strengthened economy that comes with participation – if Gov. Mills signs on in 2021. Maine needs to fully explore every investment opportunity available to create and grow good-paying jobs and rebuild the economy after the COVID-19 pandemic. The Transportation and Climate Initiative’s commitment to direct at least 35 percent of the proceeds to underserved and overburdened communities could send a lifeline to rural parts of the state that are struggling to survive, let alone prosper. It is, once again, a new year for environmental hope and progress. Maine shouldn’t wait for transportation climate action!

Read the full article in the Portland Press Herald here

Connecticut signs on to regional plan to cut transportation emissions

Connecticut has signed on to a ground-breaking plan that will help dramatically lower greenhouse gas and other emissions from transportation and at the same time bring badly needed revenue to the state’s transportation system — and the under-served communities that are disproportionately affected by the impacts of climate change.

Connecticut will join Massachusetts, Rhode Island and the District of Columbia as the first jurisdictions to commit to the carbon-cutting concept known as the Transportation and Climate Initiative and a final two-year push toward implementing a plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector, the way the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, known as RGGI, has done for the power sector.

It took 11 years and a relentless slog of working groups, webinars, listening sessions, workshops, memorandums of understanding and other initiatives.

Like RGGI, TCI is a cap-and-invest program and will bring revenue into the state – an estimated $89 million in 2023, increasing to as much as $117 million in 2032. Across all four jurisdictions, the program is expected to bring in $288 million in 2023 alone. In 10 years, that number is expected to reach $380 million a year, and greenhouse gas emissions should be down by 26%, a hefty dent in the reductions the state committed to through its Global Warming Solutions Act.

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“While we know that there are some who feel this isn’t enough of a commitment for these communities, we’re not going to say it’s fine,” said Amy McLean, who runs the Connecticut office of Acadia Center, the New England and New York environmental advocacy group that has pushed for TCI for years. “We do know that this commitment is a good starting point.”

“The most important thing about this effort,” she said, “is that it’s actually moving forward.”

But she cautioned that TCI is not a silver bullet and the other efforts the state has been making towards cleaner transportation – electric vehicle adoption especially, which has been slow and difficult – have to continue.

“All of these policies need to move forward at the same time,” she said.

 

Read the full article from the CT Mirror here

A Plan by Eastern States to Cap Tailpipe Emissions Gets Off to a Slow Start

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Read the full article in the New York Times here

Acadia Center applauds Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island Governors for regional action to reduce tailpipe pollution.

BOSTON — Today, three states and the District of Columbia announced their plan for a regional program to cut tailpipe pollution while delivering much-needed investments in clean, equitable, and modern transportation options. Working together through the Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI), Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Washington, D.C. will participate in a cap-and-invest program to revitalize their transportation system and rein in pollution from vehicles, which are the country’s largest source of carbon emissions.

“Through their collaboration on TCI, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island will deliver cleaner, fairer and better transportation options for their residents and cleaner air in the most polluted communities, said Daniel Sosland, Acadia Center’s President. “These states are providing the kind of bipartisan leadership on climate change in the region that we all deserve. Acadia Center is committed to advancing a clean energy future that works for everyone, and major improvements in the transportation sector will help achieve this vision.”

The four jurisdictions participating in the program need to achieve significant emission reductions from the transportation sector to meet their ambitious climate targets. Transportation pollution accounts for 46% of the CO₂ emissions across Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Washington, D.C., more than double the contribution to climate change from any other sector. By participating in the TCI program, these jurisdictions will be able to invest hundreds of millions of dollars each year in clean transportation projects that create jobs, boost the economy, improve mobility, and slash pollution.

The collaboration between Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Washington, D.C. represents action at a substantial scale. With a combined GDP of $1.09 trillion, the participating jurisdictions would be the world’s 15^th largest economy, similar in output to Mexico. And the scale of this project is likely to grow. In a separate document released today, the four MOU signatories were joined by eight other TCI member states to assert that they are collaborating on the next steps of the cap-and-invest program’s development, suggesting that the program will expand beyond southern New England and D.C. Notably, that list includes a new TCI member, North Carolina, demonstrating the growing appeal of the TCI framework. All together, these jurisdictions would represent the world’s third largest economy.

As for the details, the TCI jurisdictions have incorporated stakeholder feedback to make the program more equitable and ambitious. Important new provisions have been added to last year’s draft MOU to ensure that overburdened and underserved communities receive at least their proportional share of TCI proceeds, that those communities are included in investment decisions and program design, and that air quality monitors will be deployed in the most polluted communities.

“These commitments represent significant progress at the regional level, but states have much more work to do to develop stakeholder processes and policy solutions that meet the needs of their communities,” said Jordan Stutt, Acadia Center’s Carbon Programs Director. “While an equitably-designed TCI program should benefit overburdened and underserved communities, TCI is just one piece of the puzzle: other action will still be necessary to deliver transportation justice.”

The MOU also charts an ambitious emission reduction trajectory. The emissions cap will decline by 30% from 2023 to 2032, consistent with recommendations Acadia Center submitted on behalf of 200 organizations in November. Reducing CO₂ emissions from transportation fuels by 30% will help states achieve their climate targets while delivering critical improvements in air quality. The TCI program and additional transportation policies are key to realizing Acadia Center’s vision for a just and sustainable future.

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 Acadia Center is a regionally-focused, non-profit organization headquartered in Rockport, Maine, working to advance a clean energy future that benefits all.

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Media Contacts

Massachusetts and Regional:
Jordan Stutt, Carbon Programs Director
jstutt@acadiacenter.org, 845-702- 5217

Connecticut:
Amy McLean Salls, Connecticut Director and Senior Policy Advocate
amcleansalls@acadiacenter.org, 860-246-7121 x204

Rhode Island:
Hank Webster, Rhode Island Director and Staff Attorney
hwebster@acadiacenter.org, 401-276-0600 x402

Maine:
Jeff Marks, Maine Director & Senior Policy Advocate
jmarks@acadiacenter.org, 207-236-6470 x304

Massachusetts loses its claim to being the most energy-efficient state

Read the full article in the Boston Globe here.

Northeast States Again Rank High in 2020 State Energy Efficiency Scorecard, but Massachusetts’ Fall to Second Place Highlights Need for Continued Improvement

Rockport, ME – Massachusetts has lost its energy efficiency crown to California, after 9 years on top of the national rankings for efficiency, according to rankings released by the nonpartisan American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE). As they have for the past decade, Northeast states performed well in the 2020 State Energy Efficiency Scorecard, with Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island, and New York filling out the top 5 spots, respectively. Connecticut ranked #7, Maine at #16, and New Hampshire at #18, a slight improvement from the 2019 Scorecard, which ranked New Hampshire at #20.

“Investing in energy efficiency is the best way to reduce the energy burdens faced by consumers in the Northeast,” said Daniel Sosland, Acadia Center’s President. “The region’s continued strong showing in the national rankings is due to the last decade of successful efficiency policies and programs in these states – helping the Northeast lower carbon pollution while providing over $49 billion in economic and public health benefits, region-wide.”

“Massachusetts’ falling to #2 highlights the need to not rest on past success, but instead keep innovating to ensure that the programs are helping to deliver clean, healthy buildings in our poorest neighborhoods, too,” Sosland continued.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound effect on state budgets and policy agendas across the country and has forced hundreds of thousands of people in the clean energy sector out of wo rk, especially energy efficiency contractors. The pandemic has slowed progress on new energy efficiency legislation, and yet, existing efficiency policies and appliance standards continued to help reduce energy use and emissions and save consumers money.

The ACEEE rankings, released annually, are based on scoring in categories including state government initiatives, building efficiency policies, utility and public benefits programs, transportation policies, and appliance standards. The Northeast’s success in the rankings is largely the result of a policy championed by Acadia Center that requires programs to pursue all energy efficiency that is cost-effective, rather than defining a prescribed level of funding, and to involve stakeholders in developing efficiency plans. ACEEE awarded Massachusetts and Rhode Island a near-perfect score in the utility program category, praising the programs for being the largest contributor to state greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals. And both Massachusetts and New York have begun to incorporate fuel-neutral savings goals that better align efficiency programs with electrification.

“Over the last ten years, Massachusetts’ strong customer-funded efficiency programs have grown the economy while lowering electric and gas bills and cutting emissions – and they’ll continue to do so.  Massachusetts lost its first-place rank largely because it has not adopted appliance efficiency standards – an area heavily weighted under the scoring rubric,” said Amy Boyd, Director of Policy at Acadia Center and a member of the Massachusetts Energy Efficiency Advisory Council. “Massachusetts should adopt appliance standards, but also take this shift in rankings as a wake-up call that even though our utility efficiency programs are among the best in the nation, they’re not perfect. We need to ensure that all communities and customers can access the efficiency programs and include climate as one of the program’s explicit statutory goals.”

The Northeast is a national leader in energy efficiency, but states can and must do more. Acadia Center is working with states in the Northeast to keep energy efficiency funding high, serve low- and moderate-income communities better, and align energy efficiency programs more closely with climate targets.

Most importantly, many households in the Northeast—particularly those living in older buildings in environmental justice communities—suffer from excessive indoor air pollution, unhealthy temperature swings, and other inadequate living conditions. The communities most impacted by this substandard housing disproportionately consist of people of color. These buildings also emit more climate pollutants than better-weatherized housing. Existing efficiency programs must embrace this chance to marry traditional energy savings with crucially important equity and climate goals. Acadia Center is working with a wide range of partner organizations on policy changes that will enable efficiency programs to seize this opportunity.