This agreement provides funding under the inflation reduction act (IRA) to central massachusetts regional planning commission (cmrpc) to develop or update existing regional climate mitigation plans to…

This Cooperative Agreement award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Climate Pollution Reduction Grants program (CFDA 66.046) provides $1,000,000 in funding to the Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission (CMRPC) to develop or update regional climate mitigation plans. The key activities include quantifying greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across various sectors such as transportation, industry, and waste, identifying strategies and projects to reduce emissions, and conducting meaningful engagement with low-income and disadvantaged communities within the region. CMRPC plans to build on previous climate action planning efforts in Massachusetts and Connecticut, review municipal plans, and collaborate with other regional planning agencies to ensure an effective and equitable regional approach. The award period is from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2027.

This agreement provides funding under the inflation reduction act (IRA) to central massachusetts regional planning commission (cmrpc) to develop or update existing regional climate mitigation plans to address greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and reduction measures throughout the entire metropolitan area and to conduct meaningful engagement with low- income and disadvantaged communities and coordinate with geographically proximate tribes as appropriate. Specifically, the recipient will build on the massachusetts executive office of energy and environmental affairs' clean energy and climate plan for 2025 and 2030, as this plan outlines comprehensive strategies to achieve statewide GHG emissions limits and sector-specific sub-limits adopted by the massachusetts state secretary for 2025 and 2030. In august of 2022, governor baker signed into law an additional climate law that provides additional interim targets for emissions reductions to achieve a level of GHG emissions by 2050 that can be considered net-zero.activities:in general, activities include the development, updating, and evaluation of plans to reduce climate pollution (i.e., to reduce GHG emissions and/or enhance carbon sinks). Central massachusetts regional planning commission (cmrpc) developed a priority climate action plan (pcap) and comprehensive climate action plan (ccap) which encompasses the geographic area starting from the town of royalston in north-central massachusetts to the town of groton in east-central massachusetts, and south to the towns of voluntown and windham in eastern connecticut. Specific activities include targeting emission reductions for the following sectors: transportation, industrial, commercial, residential thermal, electricity, agricultural, and waste incineration. Cmrpc will review past clean energy plans from massachusetts and connecticut, and audit municipal plans such as municipal climate action plans and energy use reduction plans to help with goal formulation and project prioritization. Cmrpc plans to build on phase i of our regional greenhouse gas analysis project from 2022, and on connecticut's greenhouse gas inventory updates from 1990-2021. A qualitative analysis of municipal climate action and energy use reduction plans will be conducted to aid in formulation and project prioritization. Additionally, cmrpc plans to build on phase i of their regional greenhouse gas analysis project from 2022, and on connecticut's greenhouse gas inventory updates from 1990-2021. Cmrpc will engage with community-based organizations to ensure that environmental justice and disadvantaged communities are included in both the planning and implementation processes for these plans, and to ensure that policy solutions and projects will reverse the harmful effects of pollution on these communities. Collaboration across state lines at both the local, regional, and state levels will be crucial for establishing an effective steering committee and technical advisory committees that address economy-wide decarbonization and build climate resilience infrastructure that lasts. Cmrpc plans to collaborate with the metropolitan statistical area (MSA)'s two other regional planning agencies, montachusett regional planning commission (mrpc) and connecticut's northeast connecticut council of governments (neccog) to ensure effective community outreach. Community outreach events will be organized by sub-region during the fall of 2023, as most towns within the MSA have populations of less than 40,000 residents. Cmrpc plans to leverage existing state municipal programs such as the green communities program and will utilize the massachusetts municipal association and connecticut conference of municipalities as well to ensure effective outreach. Subrecipient:in order to properly use the cprg funds in a meaningful way, cmrpg will first and foremost follow massachusetts public procurement law for sub-grant awardees and existing local and s