What is Oregon's Climate Pollution Reduction Planning Grant?
The Climate Pollution Reduction Grant Program is one of many federal funding opportunities created through the Inflation Reduction Act and run through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The first round of grants was provided to states, local governments, tribes, and territories to develop plans for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other harmful air pollution.
Through this grant, the state of Oregon created a Priority Climate Action Plan that was submitted to EPA on Feb. 29, 2024. Our next deliverable to EPA is the Comprehensive Climate Action Plan, due December of 2025, to highlight even more opportunities to reduce climate pollution. In addition to the state, Affiliated Tribes of the
Northwest Indians and the Portland-Hillsboro-Vancouver region led by Metro are leading planning grants.
The second and last round of Climate Pollution Reduction Grants is to implement actions outlined in the Priority Climate Action Plan. DEQ submitted a competitive application on March 29, 2024 to EPA that included 12 measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation, buildings, and waste materials. It is anticipated that EPA will announce awards in July.
Oregon's Priority Climate Action Plan and Implementation application
The Priority Climate Action Plan was guided by the extensive work that Oregon, local jurisdictions, and Tribes have done to date on planning for and implementing climate pollution reduction actions. DEQ collaborated with these agencies, Tribes and the public to identify actions that reduce climate pollution in Oregon in ways that most benefit local communities.
Oregon's approach to the PCAP was to include measures that will qualified for the Climate Pollution Reduction Implementation Grant application. The goal was to submit a single large state grant application to the EPA that encompasses actions to reduce greenhouse gases across the state and in local jurisdictions. The PCAP focused on measures to reduce emissions from transportation, residential and commercial buildings, and food waste and landfills. Detailed actions will be evaluated based on the criteria set by the EPA for the implementation grant Notice Of Funding Opportunity.
The measures in Oregon's PCAP do not represent all the necessary and needed actions for emission reductions in Oregon. Instead, the selected measures included meet the following criteria that are of high priority to EPA:
- They will achieve maximum reductions in greenhouse gas emissions while driving benefits to surrounding communities, and
- They are ready to receive funds and be implemented immediately
Next steps
Oregon should hear back from EPA about the implementation grant application in July. Additionally, building on the PCAP, Oregon will now develop a Comprehensive Climate Action Plan to help achieve the state's climate goals, particularly the 2040 and 2050 goals. The CCAP is due to EPA in December 2025. The CCAP will consist of five workstreams, some of which are already underway:
- The development of an Oregon State Energy Strategy that identifies areas for improved alignment of energy policy, regulation, implementation, financial investment, and technical assistance to achieve decarbonization
- A greenhouse gas emissions reduction policy gap analysis of sources and sectors
- A Natural and Working Lands Carbon Sequestration Inventory
Continuation of community engagement to identify the barriers faced by Oregon's environmental justice communities to accessing and benefiting from clean energy projects and programs and to identify the greenhouse gas mitigation measures that are of most interest and benefit to those communities.