The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) will be leading the effort to update the 2009 State Climate Action Plan. Using funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grant Program (CPRG), the State aims to develop a plan with three broad goals:
- Reduce greenhouse gas emissions while supporting the creation of good jobs and lowering energy costs for families.
- Empower community-driven solutions in neighborhoods overburdened from pollution and impacts of climate change by directly seeking input from those communities. Under Justice40 guidance, the program’s goal is to have 40% of overall benefits flow to these communities.
- Deliver cleaner air by reducing harmful air pollution in places where people live, work, play and go to school.
DES will use the grant funds to develop a Priority Climate Action Plan (PCAP) and a Comprehensive Climate Action Plan (CCAP). Once the State has completed those initial steps, it will be able to compete for a share of the nationwide pool of $4.6 billion in implementation grants.
For more information about this process, including cross-sector shareholder meetings and community-focused conversations, click here.