Act on Climate Signed into Law
The 2021 Act on Climate, legislation sponsored by Sen. Dawn Euer and Rep. Lauren H. Carson to update Rhode Island’s climate-emission reduction goals and make them enforceable, was signed into law. House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi, Senate President Dominick J. Ruggerio and the sponsors today Governor Dan McKee, Attorney General Peter Neronha and General Treasurer Seth Magaziner for the signing of the bill, which will position the state to boldly address climate change and prepare for a global economy that will be shifting to adapt to clean technology.
“I am immensely proud to celebrate the enactment of this landmark environmental legislation, and grateful to my colleagues in the General Assembly, the vast majority of whom enthusiastically supported it. Here in the Ocean State, and particularly in my home city of Warwick, we suffer the effects of rising seas and increasingly intense storm surges that regularly damage homes, businesses and infrastructure. Rhode Island must join the global effort to address the climate crisis, and will directly benefit in many ways, not the least of which will be job creation in green industries. The Act on Climate puts Rhode Island on a path to a sustainable and prosperous future,” said House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi (D-Dist. 23, Warwick).
The legislation (2021-S 0078A, 2021-H 5445A) is one of the most influential environmental bills approved by the General Assembly in decades, aimed at addressing climate change and ensuring the state is prepared for an economy that will be shifting nationwide and worldwide to adapt to clean technology.
Under the Act on Climate, the state will develop a plan to incrementally reduce climate emissions to net-zero by 2050. The plan will be updated every 5 years and will address areas such as environmental injustices, public health inequities and a fair employment transition as fossil-fuel jobs are replaced by green energy jobs. Rhode Island joins other states, including Massachusetts, New York and Maine, in enacting significant climate legislation in the past few years aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and transitioning to a low carbon economy.
The sponsors emphasized that, besides being an imperative for human survival, reducing carbon emissions also creates a wealth of new economic opportunities for Rhode Island – opportunities that the state is already well-positioned to capitalize upon.
“The climate crisis is an enormously important issue to Rhode Islanders, and the Act on Climate finally takes decisive action to address it. Rhode Island will now at last create specific, evolving, science-backed plans to wind down carbon output and ramp up renewables, with public input, environmental justice and accountability. The extent to which our climate continues to change is within our control, and I am so proud that the Ocean State is standing among the leaders of the world in making this commitment to our planet and to future generations,” said RepresentativeCarson (D-Dist. 75, Newport).
The bill, which won final approval by the General Assembly Tuesday, was signed at Bowen’s Wharf in Newport, an area that has been significantly impacted by rising sea levels.