On September 2, 22 organizations submitted joint recommendations to the Maryland Commission on Climate Change (MCCC) for achieving Maryland’s ambitious new goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 60% by 2031. The bold, cross-cutting recommendations propose new programs and funding needs, refinement to existing programs, strategies to take advantage of federal funding, and administrative and regulatory strategies, focused on achieving dual goals of greenhouse gas reductions and advancing equity.
The organizations came together to hash out and refine what ended up to be a set of 35 actionable recommendations pertaining to electricity generation, energy efficiency, building electrification,and transportation. The recommendations are meant to inform the annual report of the Maryland Commission on Climate Change.
The recommendations respond to a late July request from the MCCC Mitigation Working Group (MWG), which asked MWG members and interested parties to review the 2021 [MCCC] recommendations and consider how they could be updated to be more actionable or better reflect current needs. One key reason for updates and strengthening is that the 2021 recommendations were made in the context of the 2030 GGRA Plan, which aims to reduce statewide GHG emissions 50% by 2030. In 2022, Maryland law was updated to require that statewide GHG emissions be reduced 60% by 2031.
Over the month of August, Maryland Sierra Club convened partner groups, staff and volunteers, who were led by subject matter experts from within the groups to develop approximately 3-5 major recommendations per thematic area (electricity generation, energy efficiency, EmPower, building electrification and gas distribution, and transportation).
The approach to coming up with recommendations involved looking back at the MCCC’s 2021 recommendations asking questions like: Do we have the right goals? How is our actual progress? Do the existing goals need to be strengthened?
About two dozen people actively conceived, met, discussed, and honed the recommendations, circulating drafts more widely for feedback before finalizing.
Recommendations ran the gamut from “The legislature should make the Community Solar pilot program a full, permanent program in 2023” to “The state should mandate that 50% of Surface Transportation Block Grant and National Highway Performance Program federal funds be used by state agencies and shared with cities and counties for public transit, bike and pedestrian infrastructure, and Transit Oriented Development programs.” Another one reads: “The legislature or PSC should authorize alternative business model experiments for utilities including heat/cooling as a service and on-bill financing of electrification.”
Maryland Sierra Club is grateful to all participants for the time, expertise, and thought that went into making and fine tuning the recommendations.
The full output of this collaborative, multi-organization process can be viewed here.
The following groups signed on to the full recommendations and/or transportation recommendations:
- AIA Maryland
- ArchPlan Inc.
- Audubon Mid-Atlantic
- Audubon Naturalist Society
- Baltimore County Progressive Democrats Club
- Bikemore
- Cedar Lane Environmental Justice Ministry
- Central Maryland Transportation Alliance
- Ceres
- Chesapeake Climate Action Network
- Chesapeake Physicians for Social Responsibility
- Climate Reality Montgomery County
- Coalition for Smarter Growth
- Disability Rights Maryland
- DoTheMostGood
- Downtown Residents Advocacy Network (Baltimore)
- Elders Climate Action Maryland Chapter
- Elizabeth Bunn
- Environmental and Climate Justice Committee
- Glen Echo Heights Mobilization
- Green & Healthy Homes Initiative
- Greenbelt Climate Action Network (GCAN)
- Howard County Climate Action
- Interfaith Power & Light (DC.MD.NoVA)
- Labor Network for Sustainability
- League of Women Voters of Maryland
- Locust Point Community Garden
- Maryland Conservation Council
- Maryland League of Conservation Voters
- Maryland Legislative Coalition
- Maryland Nonprofits
- Maryland PIRG
- Maryland Sierra Club
- MLC Climate Justice Wing
- Mobilize Frederick
- Montgomery Countryside Alliance
- NAACP Maryland State Conference ECJ Committee
- Prince George's County DSA
- Rewiring America
- Safe Skies Maryland
- Solar United Neighbors
- Strong Future Maryland
- The Climate Mobilization Montgomery County Chapter (TCM MoCo)
- Transit Choices
- Union of Concerned Scientists
- Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry of Maryland
- Washington Area Bicyclist Association