Transportation and Climate Initiative

This overview provides a summary of climate change provisions in state long-range transportation plans.  The document was prepared by the Transportation and Climate Initiative for participating states at its June 2010 kickoff.

Twenty-seven states have adopted specific greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets, and have completed climate action plans that identify policies and programs designed to meet those  targets.  Approaches for reducing GHGs in the transportation sector typically address vehicle efficiency and low-carbon fuels – the traditional U.S. approaches – as well as measures designed  to reduce annual vehicle use, as measured by vehicle miles traveled (VMT).

This overview of RGGI was part of the briefing document given to participating states at the kickoff of the Transportation and Climate Initiative in June 2010.

In 2010, eleven U.S. states and the District of Columbia signed a Declaration of Intent to create the Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI) – a new regional transportation approach that will help states build the clean energy economy of the future. In 2018, Virginia announced support for the TCI Declaration of Intent and formally joined the collaboration.

Agency heads from the 12 jurisdictions that make up the Transportation and Climate Initiative approved the group’s first work plan in October.

The plan focuses on four key areas: 1) the development of clean vehicles and fuels, including the creation of a regional electric vehicle network, 2) promoting the development of sustainable communities, 3) implementing communication and information technology throughout the region and 4) improving the efficiency of freight transportation.

Transportation, environment, and energy agency heads from 12 Northeast and Mid-Atlantic jurisdictions released an Agreement to Support Sustainable Communities in June 2011.

The states agreed to work together to promote sustainable communities that:

Ten northeast states and the District of Columbia announced the formation of the Northeast Electric Vehicle Network on October 19, 2011, to expedite the deployment of electric vehicles in the region and promote the use of alternative fuels. The Network seeks to bolster economic growth, maintain the region’s leadership in the clean energy economy, and reduce the area’s dependence on oil and its emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants.

To learn more about the network, click here.