Murphy administration drives toward zero transportation emissions future with nearly $13M investment
NEW JERSEY – Leveraging proceeds from New Jersey’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), Governor Murphy has announced a nearly $13 million investment to further protect residents, the environment and the economy from the worsening impacts of climate change, Commissioner of Environmental Protection Shawn M. LaTourette said.
The latest round of auction proceeds will be used to increase the number of electric trucks and buses that traverse communities overburdened by air pollution, LaTourette said.
The investment will use RGGI quarterly auction proceeds to fund 45 electric garbage trucks, dump trucks, shuttle buses and charging stations owned by 22 overburdened municipalities throughout the state.
Since 2019, New Jersey has awarded over $360 million for a variety of transportation decarbonization projects in overburdened communities, including 458 electric trucks and cargo vans, 201 electric school buses, 242 electric buses and shuttle buses, and 179 electric airport and port vehicles and equipment. RGGI proceeds have also funded nine electric ridesharing projects, which increase clean mobility options for urban residents.
“This funding supports our vehicle electrification and climate mitigation goals and is part of a holistic approach that the Murphy Administration is taking to combat global warming and protect our residents,” LaTourette said. “We will continue to look for opportunities to develop and fund these types of projects to ensure that all residents benefit from our electrification investments.”
The awarding of these grants is part of the Murphy Administration’s overall objectives for electrifying the state’s transportation sector, including the Advanced Clean Cars II and Advanced Clean Trucks initiatives, which set goals for phasing out sales of fossil-fueled vehicles with zero-emission vehicles in coming years.
Transportation remains the largest source of greenhouse gases in the state, at 37% of all emissions. In addition, diesel-powered vehicles emit carcinogenic particles that contribute to premature death, asthma and heart disease.
The first RGGI Strategic Funding Plan was released in April 2020 and provided a framework for how the state would invest its proceeds through 2022 after Governor Murphy re-entered New Jersey into the RGGI partnership in 2019.
New Jersey’s participation in RGGI, the cap-and-trade pact among 11 northeastern states dedicated to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the electricity-generating sector, supports the state’s 2030 and 2050 climate and clean energy goals. The Strategic Funding Plan is reviewed every three years and updated to ensure that investments are aligned across agencies to meet the Murphy Administration’s clean energy and greenhouse gas reduction goals.
Since the first plan’s release, RGGI proceeds have funded the launch of several projects, such as the NJ Zero Emissions Incentive Program (NJZIP), various DEP electrification projects, the Natural Climate Solutions Grants Program and an EV charging program for medium and heavy duty electric vehicles.
This year, New Jersey has awarded $4.55 million to fund the planting of 3,000 trees at 34 public schools, colleges and universities in the state. Trees sequester, or absorb, carbon, thereby preventing those gases from contributing to global warming. New Jersey also awarded $24 million for 14 projects that will restore tidal flows in wetlands, tidal salt marsh vegetation and living shorelines, and enhance urban forest canopies. Like trees, coastal ecosystems can absorb carbon emissions and help efforts to combat climate change.
The second RGGI Strategic Funding Plan: Years 2023 through 2025, released earlier this year, expands on the first iteration of the plan, as well as introduces new investments while prioritizing projects that will benefit New Jersey’s environmental justice communities.
For a list of projects funded in this latest round of RGGI auction proceeds, visit NJDEP – StopTheSoot.org.
