This agreement provides funding under the inflation reduction act (IRA) to the vermont agency of natural resources, climate action office to develop a comprehensive, economy-wide climate mitigation…

This agreement provides funding under the inflation reduction act (IRA) to the vermont agency of natural resources, climate action office to develop a comprehensive, economy-wide climate mitigation plan or update an existing plan in collaboration with air pollution control districts, and large and small municipalities statewide, and tribal governments that will support actions to reduce greenhouse gases (GHG) and harmful air pollutants and to conduct meaningful engagement with low- income and disadvantaged communities. Specifically, the recipient will design and implement priority and comprehensive actions to mitigate climate change. The work that will take place to implement the climate pollution reduction grant is built upon the framework of the vermont global warming solutions act, long established programmatic work related to greenhouse gas emissions analysis and reduction like the annual vermont greenhouse gas emissions inventory and the vermont carbon budget, and a recently adopted initial vermont climate action plan. Public engagement and stakeholder outreach is also a core tenant of the newly formed climate action office and will be integrated into the development and implementation of the priority climate action plan (pcap) and comprehensive climate action plan (ccap).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). Specific activities include reducing GHG emissions from the transportation, buildings, regulated utility, industrial, commercial, and agricultural sectors; encouraging smart growth and related strategies; achieving long-term sequestration and storage of carbon and promote best management practices to achieve climate mitigation, adaptation, and resilience on natural working lands; achieve net zero emissions by 2050 across all sectors; reduce energy burdens for rural and marginalized communities; limit the use of chemicals, substances, or products that contribute to climate change; and building and encouraging climate adaptation and resilience of vermont communities and natural systems.subrecipient:sub-award to the vermont public service department for staff costs: the public service department is the state's energy office and is charged with developing and updating the vermont comprehensive energy plan, which is a companion document to the vermont climate action plan and is required to be consistent with the climate action plan pursuant to the vermont global warming solutions act. The PSD needs additional staff capacity to support the growth in deployment of actions to support reducing emission from the thermal sector which we anticipate being a high priority through the development of the pcap. This capacity will also support complementary work to engage vermonters and coordinate any necessary updates to the comprehensive energy plan as a component of the comprehensive climate action plan deliverable under the cprg. This sub-award will be dedicated to supporting that work at PSD. Sub-award to a vermont regional planning commission (RPC): to incorporate the energy and climate planning of vermont municipalities and regional planning organizations into the pcap and ccap, ANR will execute a sub-award to a vermont RPC to conduct two phases of planning work. Phase 1 will include a survey of all existing municipal and regional climate and energy plans to be submitted to ANR so that these plans can be incorporated by reference into the pcap. Phase 2 will include technical and policy support for municipalities and other rpcs to update or adopt climate and energy plans for incorporation into the ccap. Both deliverables under phases 1 and 2 will be critical to inform the pcap accurately and adequately and ccap deliverables and ensure that these entities can access the cprg implementation funding and be covered under the pcap and ccap. Additionally, rpcs w