Blog | Celebrating Climate Planning on Earth Day: A Look at Priority Climate Action Plans Across the U.S.

By Grace Gibson, GCC Climate Fellow

As we recognize the 55th Earth Day this year, consider a notable milestone in the U.S.: climate planning is happening in all 50 states. While many states have over a decade of experience developing plans to reduce climate pollution, others have developed climate plans for the first time this year, thanks to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Climate Pollution Reduction Grants program (CPRG). CPRG plans have been created by states, U.S. territories, municipalities, and nearly 100 Tribal participants—resulting in some degree of climate planning in every U.S. state and territory. Our initial review of the Priority Climate Action Plans (PCAPs) submitted this spring reveals plans as varied as the jurisdictions that created them, but with common themes, including equity, collaboration, and climate resiliency.

What is the Carbon Pollution Reduction Program (CPRG)?

Established by the Inflation Reduction Act passed by Congress in 2022, the Climate Pollution Reduction Grants program has been developed by the EPA as part of the Biden Administration's efforts to promote climate action and equity. CPRG is a $5 billion grant program for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and air pollutants in six key sectors: electricity generation, industry, transportation, buildings, agriculture/natural working lands, and waste. States, municipalities, Tribes, and territories are eligible to participate. 

CPRG consists of two phases: planning and implementation. The first phase provides $250 million in noncompetitive grants to states, municipalities, Tribes, and territories for climate planning in the form of Priority Climate Action Plans (PCAPs) and Comprehensive Climate Action Plans (CCAPs). The second stage, in progress right now, will provide $4.6 billion in competitive implementation grants. EPA anticipates it will announce implementation grant awards this summer.

What are Priority Climate Action Plans (PCAPs)?

As part of the planning phase of CPRG, each participating jurisdiction received funding (up to $3 million for states) to develop a Priority Climate Action Plan, or PCAP, followed by a Comprehensive Climate Action Plan. The PCAPs were required to include certain elements related to GHG reduction, including a GHG inventory and quantified GHG reduction measures, as well as equity considerations, particularly for low income and disadvantaged communities, or LIDACs. 

The PCAPs set the stage for the implementation grants competition by identifying measures to reduce climate pollution in each jurisdiction. While not every pollution reduction measure included in the PCAPs will receive funding through the competitive implementation grant process, the development of each PCAP provided an important opportunity to compile emissions data, develop climate action priorities, engage with communities, and consider equity issues. 

Climate planning is happening in all 50 states

Many states have been engaging in comprehensive climate planning for years. States like Colorado and Michigan used the CPRG planning funds to build upon and update existing state climate plans. For other states, the PCAP may constitute their most extensive climate planning to date. Even in states that are not participating in the CPRG program, several Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) and Tribal governments have developed PCAPs, meaning federally-funded climate planning is happening at some level in every state and U.S. territory. South Dakota, for instance, has one MSA PCAP and two Tribal PCAPs within its boundaries, even without a statewide PCAP. 

Equity is an essential element of PCAPs

In 2021, the Biden Administration launched the Justice40 Initiative (Justice40), committing to ensuring that at least 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal programs and investments will flow to disadvantaged communities. As one of the hundreds of federal programs covered by Justice40, the EPA directed CPRG program participants to include certain equity considerations in PCAPs. Each plan was required to include potential benefits to Low-Income and Disadvantaged Communities (LIDACs), and states were expected to engage with people and organizations in these communities to identify those benefits. Some states went beyond the requirements in integrating equity into their plans, including by building on existing equitable climate planning efforts and engaging with equity advisory bodies.  

For example, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency developed the priority measures contained in the Illinois PCAP to address gaps in achieving not only the state’s climate goals, but also the state’s equity goals. The Illinois PCAP builds upon the 2021 Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA), which created Equity Investment Eligible Community designations and directed benefits to those areas. The equity assessments and engagement conducted under CEJA informed the equity goals and LIDAC considerations in the Illinois PCAP. 

Similarly, in developing the Massachusetts PCAP, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and Office of Climate Innovation and Resilience exceeded the equity requirements by using the expertise of the existing state Environmental Justice Council, convening a monthly Justice40 and Equitable Investment Working Group, and building on past equity analyses. To ensure the emission reduction actions were “beneficial, equitable, and responsive to the specific needs of LIDACs,” the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection developed a LIDAC Advisory Group to guide the development of the Connecticut PCAP. These are just a few examples demonstrating that equity is a priority of several state governments as well as a CPRG program requirement. 

Many PCAPs exemplify regional and intergovernmental collaboration 

Coordinating climate planning efforts among different governments and across regions can make these planning and implementation measures more effective. Some states took advantage of the fact that the CPRG program is open to not only states, but also to local and Tribal governments. 

In the development of the Virginia PCAP, for example, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) collaborated with MSAs and Tribes. To better understand Virginia’s statewide and regional priorities, DEQ participated in local-state, intra-agency, interagency, and regional convenings throughout the PCAP development process. DEQ also met with Tribes and aligned the Virgina PCAP priorities with the priorities outlined in the Monacan Indian Nation PCAP. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality similarly coordinated with six MSAs to align the Texas PCAP measures with local governments. 

Many PCAPs incorporate adaptation and resilience

The Fifth National Climate Assessment, produced by the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) in November 2023, emphasizes the need to expand and accelerate climate adaptation actions across the nation. While the primary goal of the CPRG program is to reduce greenhouse gasses and other emissions, incorporating adaptation and resilience was optional. However, recognizing opportunities for policies and investments that both reduce emissions and prepare for climate impacts, many states took the opportunity to include resiliency in their plans.

The Maine Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future, for instance, included investing in climate-ready infrastructure as one of the strategy areas in the Maine PCAP. The Maine PCAP also proposes tracking the number of towns or regions in the state with “resilient community plans” and “significant critical adaptation infrastructure projects completed.”

Several PCAPs included adaptation and resilience measures for specific sectors. For example, the Montana PCAP, developed by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, includes several measures aimed at enhancing the resilience of forests. For the Alabama PCAP, the Alabama Department of Environmental Management included microgrids—a valuable strategy for building resilient energy systems—as well as climate resilience for agriculture. 

The Alabama PCAP also includes resilience in its assessment of potential benefits to LIDACs. Each proposed measure in the Alabama PCAP was reviewed against a series of benefits, one of which was “community resilience, or the ability to withstand extreme weather events.”

For a more comprehensive look at how states are engaging in adaptation and resilience efforts, check out our other Earth Day blog post on climate adaptation plans. 

What’s next? 

The PCAPs are merely the first step of a longer process. In 2025, states and other jurisdictions participating in the CPRG program will submit Comprehensive Climate Action Plans (CCAPs), which will include GHG emissions projections, long-term GHG emission reduction targets, a full benefits analysis, a plan to leverage other federal funding, and a workforce planning analysis. 

Even though they are just the first step, the PCAPs developed this year are notable milestones in U.S. climate planning. The emphasis on equity, collaboration, and climate adaptation throughout many of the PCAPs indicates that CPRG is already helping participants develop and accomplish goals beyond emission reductions. As we enter the next stages of CPRG, the program provides an opportunity to see what states, local governments, Tribes, and territories can achieve when given federal support for climate planning.