Bowles sets greenhouse gas emissions limit

BOSTON – Mass. Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Ian Bowles last week set the statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit for 2020 required by the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2008 at 25 percent below 1990 levels, the maximum authorized by the act.
In a statement, Bowles said that while measures already in place will get the state much of the way toward that goal, a “targeted portfolio” of additional policies will allow Massachusetts to reach its goal for greenhouse gas emissions reduction.
Bowles pointed to established programs such as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and the Renewable Portfolio Standard as means to help achieve the goal, adding that they will be supplemented by efforts to obtain additional renewable energy imports, including Canadian hydropower and a proposed Clean Energy Performance Standard.
In the area of transportation, Mass. Department of Transportation recently announced a GreenDOT sustainability program. That and other efforts to limit growth in driving, along with federal fuel-efficiency standards, lower-carbon fuels and potential incentives for “clean” cars to be studied and piloted are expected to produce a 7.6 percent greenhouse gas reduction themselves.
The Global Warming Solutions Act, signed by Gov. Deval L. Patrick in August 2008, mandates the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. The act requires the secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs to set a “legally enforceable” emissions limit for 2020 of between 10 percent and 25 percent below 1990 levels. &#8226