The government of the US state of Pennsylvania (13 million inhabitants) has ordered its Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to present a rulemaking to the Pennsylvania Environmental Board to reduce CO2 emissions from power generation companies, in order to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI).
Created in 2009, the RGGI is a cap-and-trade mandatory market-based program set up by nine Northeastern and mid-Atlantic American states designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and carbon output associated with power plants. The nine RGGI states are namely: Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont. In addition, the New England and Mid-Atlantic states are participating in the fourth RGGI control period. New Jersey (9 million inhabitants), which withdrew from RGGI in 2012, announced in June 2019 that it was now considering reentering the scheme to help reach its 100% clean energy target by 2050. New Jersey could reenter the initiative as of 1 January 2020, to take part to the March 2020 auction.
According to Pennsylvania's GHG inventory, 30% of its total GHG emissions come from the power sector: joining the RGGI scheme would help the state reduce its energy-related CO2 emissions. The measure is part of a broader strategy to cut Pennsylvania's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 26% by 2025 and by 80% by 2050, compared to 2005 levels.
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