Capital Region Climate Action Plan

The Capital District Regional Planning Commission is leading the development of the first ever climate action plan for the Capital Region. The planning process will include two phases. The first phase entails the creation of a Priority Climate Action Plan (PCAP – see below for more details). The PCAP process starts August 1, 2023 and concludes with a final PCAP report March 1, 2024. The PCAP will include goals, strategies and measures and will be focused on supporting project implementation applications to the US EPA Climate Pollution Reduction Grants (CPRG) Program. Applications are due by April 1, 2024 (see below). The PCAP will be immediately followed-up by the development of a Comprehensive Climate Action Plan (CCAP – see below for additional details), which will be completed by September 1, 2025.

Below you will find information detailing current and future activities being conducted through the Collaborative.

The Capital Region Climate Action Collaborative

The PCAP and CCAP will be developed through a newly developed Climate Action Collaborative that includes a consortium of existing regional agencies, partner organizations and municipal climate action leaders covering Albany, Schenectady, Saratoga, Rensselaer, Columbia, Warren, Washington, and Greene Counties. The Collaborative currently includes:

Regional Agencies:

Capital Region Transportation Council
Capital District Transportation Authority (CDTA)
Affordable Housing Partnership of Albany

Municipal Climate Leadership Steering Committee: Albany County, City of Albany, City of Cohoes, Columbia County, City of Glens Falls, Town/Village of Lake George, City of Saratoga Springs, and Schenectady County

Additional Partners: Troy Architectural Program, Solarize Capital Region, Capital District Community Energy, South End Community Collaborative, Zero Waste Albany, Albany County League of Women Voters.

Priority Climate Action Plan (PCAP)

The PCAP is a narrative report that focuses on near-term, high-priority strategies to reduce GHG pollution from across the economy in six key sectors:

The PCAP includes a GHG inventory, Quantified GHG Reduction Measures, Low Income/Disadvantaged Communities Benefits Analysis, and a review of authority to implement.

The PCAP serves as the framework for CPRG implementation grant proposals.

The PCAP document can be found here:

Capital Region Priority Climate Action Plan

Comprehensive Climate Action Plan (CCAP)

Beginning in May 2024, the CDRPC will expand the completed PCAP to include all sectors, and will include in a fully updated GHG inventory, GHG Emission Projections, GHG Reduction Targets, Quantified GHG Reduction Targets, Benefits Analysis (including LIDAC Analysis), Review of Authority to Implement, and Workforce Planning Analysis. The CCAP process will include broad municipal and stakeholder outreach and engagement.

The CCAP will be completed by September 2025 and will be here, when completed.

Climate Pollution Reduction Grants (CPRG)

The Climate Pollution Reduction Grants (CPRG) program provides $5 billion in grants to states, local governments, tribes, and territories to develop and implement ambitious plans for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other harmful air pollution. This two-phase program provides $250 million for noncompetitive planning grants, and approximately $4.6 billion for competitive implementation grants.

The EPA released a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFOs) announcing the CPRG grant competition in September 2023. Eligible applicants will compete for CPRG implementation grants to fund measures in applicable Priority Climate Action Plans (PCAP). This PCAP will be made available to any entity in the Capital Region looking to apply for these grants.

Grant Criteria includes the following:

Projects from $2 million to $500 million
Projects must tie to the regional PCAP
Evaluation includes consideration of greenhouse gas emission reductions, transformative impact, scalability, multi-jurisdictional, benefiting low-income and disadvantaged communities.
States, municipalities, councils of government, and other regional organizations composed of municipalities are eligible to apply.
The deadline to apply to the general competition is April 1, 2024.

Full grant details can be found at the CPRG General Competition NOFO webpage. Slides from a recent EPA webinar discussing the program can be found here.

2010 Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Inventory

In 2010, the CDRPC commissioned the development of a GHG inventory that covers all major GHG sources in the eight-county Capital District Regional Economic Development Council (REDC) region. It was developed to support communities participating in the Climate Smart Communities (CSC) program. It also serves as the baseline for the Capital District Regional Sustainability Plan developed under the Cleaner Greener Communities (CGC) Program. The inventory was developed for the year 2010 and is based upon methods, data sources, and protocol established by the CSC and CGC programs. The report is primarily a GHG baseline and is not intended to cover the options available to reduce GHG emissions in the region. However, it does include policy scenarios to show how alternative fuels and vehicles may reduce emissions from the transportation sector. It also includes a detailed study of how household energy use varies across the region to help planners identify strategies to engage households in local sustainability efforts.

Click the image or this text to access the 2010 Regional GHG Inventory document

2010 Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Inventory Dashboard

The CDRPC has created a GHG inventory dashboard that updates the 2010 data to provide easily accessible detailed information on the region’s communities.

Click the image or this text to access the 2010 Regional GHG Inventory Dashboard

Take our Citizen Input Survey

We are interested in obtaining public input for this effort and would like to know what you think about some key actions that residents can take to help the region reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG). This survey takes only a few minutes to complete and your answers will be anonymous (unless you provide your contact information at the end of the survey for us to contact you – your contact information will not be published).

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CapRegClimateActionPlan

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If you are an eligible applicant interested in applying for CPRG funding, have a project mind, or if you want to learn more about our Climate Action Plan process or provide input on the Plan, please contact the CDRPC Director of Sustainability, Todd Fabozzi at todd@cdrpc.org