A dozen states across the Northeast and the District of Columbia recently released a Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI) draft agreement, which outlines a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector.
“Since transportation is responsible for more than 40 percent of the global warming pollution in Massachusetts and the region, we will need to implement bold initiatives to mitigate the impacts of greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector,” Kathleen Theoharides, Massachusetts Energy and Environmental Affairs secretary, said.
The agreement affects 52 million registered vehicles and 72 million residents.
Initial projections show a 20 percent to 25 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2032. Public health benefits would be between $3 billion to $10 billion annually, transportation-related investments would generate $1.4 billion to $7 billion annually, and $250 million to $892 million would be avoided due to worsening storms and other climate impacts.
The TCI used economic modeling that evaluated various options for a program that caps and reduces carbon dioxide pollution from the combustion of gasoline and on-road diesel fuel to make its projections.
A ‘cap-and-invest’ program has been proposed to reduce fuel consumption. Gas and diesel fuel distributors would purchase allowances for each ton of carbon emitted when the fuels they sell are burned.