Introduction

Staff from the eleven states and provinces within the New England Governor’s and Eastern Canadian Premiers (NEG/ECP) region are working to develop a Regional Climate Change Action Plan to be submitted to the NEG/ECP at its 41st conference in 2017. The NEG/ECP region includes the states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont, and the provinces of New Brunswick, Newfoundland & Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Quebec.

As part of this effort, the New England states are seeking input regarding which options should be included.

The plan is a follow-up to the region’s 2001 Regional Climate Action Plan, which was the first multi-government effort at the federated level to be officially implemented in the world, four years before the Kyoto Protocol (see “Background” narrative below for more detail). The Regional Climate Change Initiative builds on the 2001 initiative, and is in response to Resolution 39-1 Concerning Climate Change that sets a 2030 regional greenhouse gas reduction marker range of 35-45 percent below 1990 levels for the region.

To enable a broad range of stakeholder input in order to expand the breadth of experience and expertise feeding into the final regional climate plan, the New England states have coordinated with the Coalition of Northeastern Governors to make the following resources available, including:
  • an introductory webinar;
  • a suggestion “dropbox;” and
  • reference documents describing the items under consideration.
 
The information collected will be compiled into an aggregate form and used to inform the discussions of subcommittees who are identifying options to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in a manner that will reach the 2030 reduction marker range. No results or analyses will identify or be attributed to any individual or individual's responses.

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