Transportation and Climate Initiative

The Commonwealth of Virginia today became the 13th U.S. jurisdiction to join the Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI). In a letter to the Georgetown Climate Center, which facilitates TCI on behalf of the participating state agencies, Virginia Natural Resources Secretary Matthew Strickler announced that Virginia will work with TCI toward regional low-carbon transportation solutions.

From April to August 2018, the TCI partnership hosted a series of regional listening sessions, inviting input on potential policy approaches to bring about a cleaner and more resilient transportation future across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic region. These events directly followed a November 2017 announcement by seven states and the District of Columbia, who committed to initiating listening sessions to gather input on potential policy approaches to bring about a cleaner and more resilient transportation future across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic region.

Eight jurisdictions participating in the Transportation and Climate Initiative released a statement seeking public input on potential policy approaches to bring about a cleaner and more resilient transportation future across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic region. Participants include: Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont.

Several major interstate highways in the Transportation and Climate Initiative region, including I-95, I-91 and I-87, were designated as “alternative-fuel corridors” by the U.S. Department of Transportation, recognizing the state support for electric vehicles (EV) in the region and setting the stage for the expansion of electric vehicle travel in the northeast and mid-Atlantic.

Six northeast and mid-Atlantic jurisdictions recently announced they will work together to develop potential market-based policies to achieve significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and other pollution from the transportation sector. Developing such policies will build on the momentum created by the participating states’ successful clean energy programs and will create positive economic benefits, in addition to reducing the emissions that cause climate change according to a new study released by the Georgetown Climate Center.

Five years ago, 11 northeast and mid-Atlantic states and the District of Columbia launched the Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI) to develop the clean energy economy and reduce energy use and emissions from the transportation sector. The initiative is facilitated by the Georgetown Climate Center and led by state transportation, environment, and energy officials in TCI jurisdictions, who gathered this week to celebrate the Initiative’s success during the Northeast Association of State Transportation Officials conference in Wilmington, Delaware.