Acadia Center Testimony in Support of Rhode Island Senate Bill 78, The 2021 Act on Climate

Acadia Center supports Senate Bill 78 as a critical step in the continued efforts to decarbonize Rhode Island’s economy and address the growing threat of the climate crisis. S. 78 updates the state’s climate goals in line with the latest science and recommendations of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. S-78 requires the state to issue and update plans at least every 5 years to track progress and adjust measures in order to meet the updated climate goals. The bill also requires the state of R.I. to take the first important steps to integrate climate justice into state planning by requiring more public input into planning processes and developing programs that aim for a just transition of workers into the clean energy workforce. Acadia Center provides some basic recommendations to address carbon emissions in individual sectors, such as 1) stopping the expansion of costly, unnecessary, and dangerous fossil gas infrastructure 2) adopting clean transportation strategies identified in recently adopted state mobility plans and 3) policies that optimize siting of renewable energy projects to protect environmentally sensitive areas.