After several years of work, the Oregon Global Warming Commission published a new Oregon Climate Action Roadmap to 2030, which includes extensive recommendations to inform state climate action.
"We started developing a Roadmap that would identify policies and actions needed to meet Oregon's greenhouse gas emissions reduction goal of at least 45 percent below 1990 levels by 2035," said Oregon Global Warming Commission Chair Catherine Macdonald. "However, through our review of the best available science, we determined that Oregon needs to go further and faster than the existing goal. The new Roadmap to 2030 reflects that urgency and demonstrates that it is not only feasible to achieve the state's 2035 goal by 2030, but doing so will also provide substantial economic and health benefits for Oregonians."
The Roadmap includes six overarching recommendations:
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Support robust and continuous implementation of existing climate programs and regulations.
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Adopt updated state greenhouse gas goals consistent with the best available science.
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Advance a set of additional climate actions that can help Oregon meet an accelerated greenhouse gas emission reduction goal of 45 percent below 1990 levels by 2030.
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Support further study and analysis to continue to guide effective climate action over time.
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Strengthen governance and accountability for Oregon climate action.
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Position Oregon to take full advantage of federal investments in climate action.
Each of these recommendations includes several sub-recommendations (a total of 26 sub-recommendations).
"There is a great deal of work ahead to ensure the Roadmap recommendations are accomplished, not the least of which is ensuring that the existing programs and regulations designed to reduce Oregon's sector-based greenhouse gas emissions are implemented and operate as planned with the necessary staffing and resources," said Macdonald. "Without robust implementation of these programs and regulations, Oregon will not be able to achieve its greenhouse gas goals."
In addition to implementing existing programs and regulations, the Roadmap identifies 35 additional actions the state can take to achieve the Roadmap-recommended 2030 goal. More than a third of the actions focus on energy efficient buildings, with cleaner transportation options and renewable energy accounting for most of the others. The technical analysis underpinning the Roadmap found that these actions would create thousands of new jobs and more than $120 billion in cumulative net economic and health benefits in the state through 2050 and beyond.
The Oregon Global Warming Commission funded development of the Roadmap with grant money from the U.S. Climate Alliance, and worked with Oregon Department of Energy staff and consulting firm Sustainable Solutions Group (SSG) to develop an Oregon-specific model to forecast the potential emission reductions from existing and new mitigation actions. The modeling was part of the Transformational Integrated Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction (TIGHGER) Project that informed the Roadmap recommendations. A more detailed discussion of the TIGHGER analysis and results can be found in the TIGHGER Project Report published as part of the Roadmap.
Parallel to the new Roadmap, the Oregon Global Warming Commission also delivered its required biennial report to the Legislature, reporting on recent climate impacts and current progress toward the state's greenhouse gas goals. According to preliminary emissions data, despite an overall reduction in emissions in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Oregon still missed its 2020 greenhouse gas reduction goal by 13 percent. And, with an increase in emissions in 2021 closer to pre-pandemic levels, Oregon is now 19 percent off the 2020 goal.
"While it's disappointing that Oregon missed its 2020 greenhouse gas reduction goal, the Roadmap to 2030 provides a path forward to ensure we don't miss our next goal," said Macdonald.
The Roadmap to 2030 also sets the ambition for climate action beyond 2030 by recommending updated greenhouse gas goals for the state. In addition to the accelerated 2030 goal of at least 45 percent below 1990 emissions levels, the Roadmap recommends more ambitious goals for later years including: a 2040 goal of at least 70 percent below 1990 levels; a 2050 goal of at least 95 percent below 1990 levels; a goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2050 or as soon as practicable; and a goal to achieve and maintain net negative emissions thereafter.
The Oregon Climate Action Roadmap to 2030 (including the Roadmap recommendations), the TIGHGER Project Report, and the 2023 Report to the Legislature can be found on the Oregon Global Warming Commission's website.
Media Contact: Catherine Macdonald, 503-475-6782
