Vermont's Climate Council

  • Print
Details
Created on Thursday, 22 April 2021 15:14
Written by Nate Rubin

Vermont - The Vermont Climate Council was formed in 2020 as part of a bill that will tackle climate change in the state of Vermont. The council will focus on reducing green house emissions in the state as well as better tracking it's green house emissions. 

 

In September of 2020, the Vermont Legislature passed the Global Warming Solutions Act. This bill will require Vermont to "lower its climate-damaging emissions while creating jobs, improving community resilience, and reducing burdens for rural and marginalized communities to access clean energy, transportation, heating, and housing", according to the Vermont Natural Resource Council. However, the road to assemble the council was not an easy one. Once the bill passed the Vermont House and Senate, Governor Phil Scott vetoed the bill. On September 22, 2020 the House and the Senate overwhelmingly voted to override the Governors vetoe. The House voted 103-47 and the Senate voted 22-8.

The Vermont Council holds weekly meetings where they discuss their agenda and plan for the next couple of years. The group is made up of different subcommittees. This includes: Agriculture and Ecosystem, Cross-sector Mitigation, Just Transitions, Rural Resilience and Adaptation, and Science and Data subcommittee. Dr. Jason Shafer, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences at Northern Vermont University-Lyndon is part of of the Science and Data subcommittee. The Science and Data subcommittee helps to advise the works using the latest science and best methods. Dr. Shafer stated " The council has worked with other state agencies to solicit a request for proposals for partner/vendors to help the state develop policies, frameworks, and recommendations to meet its greenhouse gas reduction goals, including better tracking of its carbon cycle in various areas (e.g., transportation,buildings,electricity)".

According to Dr. Shafer, he was selected by the state to represent this subcommittee. All others were also selected. He also noted that Vermont is somewhat of an early adapter of a climate council but other states like California and Maine have similar efforts. The group is responsible for updating the states planning every three years. In five years, there will be continued evaluation of these plans to see what is working and what is not.