Roadmap FAQ Papers & Publications
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about the Climate Change Roadmap
1. What is the Climate Change Roadmap for New England and Eastern Canada?
The Climate Roadmap is a comprehensive agenda to implement solutions to global warming at the state, provincial (Canada) and municipal level, in a way that complements and/or supplements federal action (or inaction). The Climate Roadmap contains background information on the amount and sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the region and for each state and province in the region and on the mid-term and long-term targets for GHG reductions. The Climate Roadmap is organized into 10 Priority Solutions which are further divided into 28 recommendations, specifically designed for implementation in the states and provinces of New England and Eastern Canada.
Each recommendation contains a short summary, followed by an analysis of the opportunity presented (e.g., for business development, for saving money, for achieving co-benefits such as improving public health, for piggy-backing on precedents set in other jurisdictions) and then a detailed description of a proposed action for implementation.
2. Why did Environment Northeast prepare the Climate Roadmap?
The documentary an Inconvenient Truth tells the story of the problems and risks posed by climate change. The Climate Change Roadmap tells the story of solutions to climate change, focusing principally on the role that states and provinces must play. Environment Northeast produced the Climate Change Roadmap to:
Frame the discussion about practical policy solutions to growing concerns about climate change at the state and provincial level;
Present well-researched analysis and recommendations about the "best practices" at the state (provincial) level for reducing GHG emissions and achieving mid-term and long-term GHG targets;
Help increase investment in the region, improve the economy of the region, and enhance the competitiveness of businesses in the region, while achieving GHG emission reductions;
Inform stakeholders and the public about the best policy solutions for climate action in the region.
3. What is new about the Climate Roadmap?
The Climate Change Roadmap for New England and Eastern Canada offers the first ever:
multi-state climate action implementation plan in the U.S.;
detailed, comprehensive implementation recommendations for climate action specifically designed for the region of New England and Eastern Canada (NE-EC);
analysis showing how the NE-EC region could achieve the mid-term GHG reduction targets set forth in the 2001 Climate Action Plan by the Conference of New England and Eastern Canadian Premiers and how to get on the trajectory of achieving 75% reductions by mid-century.
4. What states and provinces are addressed in the Climate Roadmap?
The solutions outlined here are specifically designed for the region comprising the six states of New England (Conn., Maine, Mass., New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont) and the five provinces of Eastern Canada (New Brunswick, Newfoundland-Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Québec).
5. What are the Ten Priority Climate Solutions for the NE-EC region:
Energy
Transportation
Sequestration
Priority 1 – Invest in Energy Efficiency Resources
Priority 6 – Transition to No-Carbon or Low-Carbon Transportation Fuels
Priority 9 – Sequester Carbon in Terrestrial Sinks
Priority 2 – Increase Energy Efficiency of Buildings
Priority 7 – Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Light-Duty Vehicles
Priority 10 -- Capture and Store of Carbon Dioxide from Energy and Industrial Sources
Priority 3 – Increase Energy Efficiency of Appliances
Priority 8 – Reduce Emissions from Heavy-Duty Vehicles
Priority 4 – Reduce Emissions from Large Stationary Sources
Priority 5 – Commercialize and Deploy No-Carbon and Low-Carbon Energy Sources
6. What are some of the 28 specific policy actions recommended in the Climate Roadmap to achieve the Ten Priority Climate Solutions
The Climate Roadmap highlights “best practices” found within the region or in other jurisdictions, and describes details of those practices to help policy makers better understand how the practice could be adapted for implementation locally or regionally, such as:
the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative under development in the Northeast states
Quebec’s major commitment to build 4,000 MW of wind generation by 2015;
the new Rhode Island law requiring utilities to procure all cost-effective energy efficiency;
the Maine law requiring all new buildings of the state to exceed energy codes by 20%;
California’s law setting CO2 standards for new cars;
Connecticut’s process for efficiency planning through an independent board;
Nova Scotia’s interest in studying the feasibility of carbon sequestration in old coal seams.
The Climate Roadmap also proposes several novel policy recommendations, including:
requiring all state and provincial government procurement (of appliances, equipment, or construction services) to meet high energy efficiency performance standards so long as it is cost-effective (saves money);
instituting a tiered building permit fee and rebate system to reward construction that exceeds building energy codes;
pursuing a net GHG emission standard for transportation fuels that factors in the full lifecycle of the emissions from producing, transporting and consuming the fuel;
establishing a regional collaboration to research and increase the use of clean, electric transportation systems;
pursuing a regional carbon sequestration initiative in New England and Eastern Canada.
7. Are there advantages to pursuing some of climate policies regionally instead of each state or province by itself?
The Climate Roadmap recognizes the significant value in states and provinces acting collectively to address climate change.
Cooperating on a regional level makes possible new initiatives by sharing costs and other resources that would be too great for any one jurisdiction acting alone.
A regional approach is the most rational way to deal with issues that cross jurisdictional boundaries.
A regional approach enables market based solutions to function in a larger marketplace, fostering greater opportunities for financial return and greater competition, ensuring uniformity of standards, and driving down costs of implementing the solutions.
8. Does the region comprising the states and provinces of New England and Eastern Canada really matter in terms of total global GHG emissions?
If this region were a country its gross domestic product would be among the top 10 of all countries in the world, and its annual greenhouse gas emissions (346 MMTCO2 in the year 2000), would place it among the top 25 of all countries in the world.
9. What is the destination for the NE-EC region, and where does the Climate Roadmap get us?
The Climate Roadmap puts this region on a path to achieve climate stabilization targets.
The 10 Priority Climate Solutions, if pursued now, can reduce annual GHG emissions in the region at least 35 to 40 MMTCO2e below current levels by the year 2020. These are amounts Environment Northeast was able to estimate with a degree of confidence that they are realistic. There are numerous actions which are also recommended but that would deliver additional reductions that we were unable to quantify or unable to compare with a usable current inventory / baseline.
We estimate that the 10 Priority Climate Solutions can achieve the New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers (NEG-ECP) 2020 target of 10% below 1990 levels. More important, it would also put this region on the right track to meet the long-term, 75% reduction target set by the NEG-ECP Conference in August, 2001.
Another way of stating this long-term target is that our destination as a region is to emit one quarter of current GHG emission levels by 2050 while improving our quality of life and strengthening our state and provincial economies.
10. Is there other information in the Climate Roadmap besides just policy recommendations?
The Climate Roadmap also provides extensive discussion of:
emissions inventory data,
economic analysis,
how clean or dirty competing technologies are,
legal and regulatory framework, and
examples or illustrations of actual policies or best practices being employed in North America.
11. What were the criteria used by Environment Northeast to select the Ten Priority Solutions and the individual recommendations for implementation?
The specific recommendations for implementing the Ten Priority Climate Solutions were chosen for the Climate Roadmap because they:
are suitable for individual or collective action by states or provinces;
o maximize economic savings and/or development while achieving GHG reductions;
o maximize the use of market mechanisms and performance standards;
o build on established precedent or analogous success stories;
o reflect the economy, legal framework, natural resources, infrastructure and culture of this region;
o address or achieve the largest GHG emission reductions available to the region.
12. If climate change is a global problem, why try to fix it at the state and provincial level? Isn’t this a job for the federal government?
Addressing climate change is a job for both the federal government and state/provincial government. However, certain policy areas that are critical to reducing greenhouse gas emissions are the exclusive jurisdiction of states. Just three examples include Utility Regulation, Land Use (e.g., zoning), Building Permitting. Other areas of climate policy can be influenced by either federal or state policy, and history suggests that the federal government waits longer to act.
The Climate Roadmap offers solutions that can be decided and implemented by states and provinces in the region, regardless of federal action, on the premise that:
There are advantages to pursuing climate action at the state (or provincial) level, because states have a stronger self-interest than the federal government in promoting indigenous energy resources, making the local economy more competitive by increasing energy efficiency, improving local air quality and human health, and managing land use and development.
Progress on climate action by these states and provinces can serve as a model for other jurisdictions in North America and for federal action.
13. Even though many of the Priorities recommended in the Climate Roadmap will save consumers and local economies money, others may cost money. Why does it make sense for states/provinces in this region to pursue policies that will have an up-front cost?
One way that the recommendations in the report will help the region is by illustrating why businesses, stakeholders and policy makers must consider the financial and investment choices that will emerge in the next decade or two as greenhouse gas emissions are broadly regulated and limited. An economy in which carbon is regulated will provide economic signals to increase energy efficiency, to commercialize cleaner energy supplies and transportation systems, and to avoid investments that leave a legacy of high carbon emissions and the high operating costs associated with those emissions.
14. What are the next steps for use of the Climate Roadmap?
The “next steps” for use of the Climate Roadmap are to:
Take the Climate Roadmap out on the road,
Provide policy makers, stakeholders and the media sufficient information about climate change solutions to point the us in the right direction and to compel us, individually and collectively, to take action.
