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Vermont Needs to Implement Our Climate Action Plan!

May 25, 2022 — Vermont’s Climate Action Plan mandates that we meet climate pollution reduction targets over the coming decade. The Vermont Legislature has been tasked with passing legislation to implement recommendations outlined in the Climate Action Plan, which have been vetted through years of research and public engagement.

The biggest pollution reduction policy of the Climate Action Plan under consideration by the legislature this year was the Clean Heat Standard, H.715, a performance-based approach that would require fossil fuel heating providers to annually, cost-effectively, and equitably ratchet down climate pollution in Vermont’s thermal sector, our second largest emissions sector.

Unfortunately, despite strong votes to advance the legislation in both the Vermont House and Senate, Governor Phil Scott vetoed the bill and the Vermont House narrowly failed to override the Governor’s veto on a 99-51 vote, falling one vote short of the 100 needed to override. Scroll down to see how your Representatives voted on this crucial vote. This means that Vermont has once again delayed essential climate progress. 

The failure to advance the Clean Heat Standard’s after two years of work, combined with the absence of any clear policy or regulatory tool to achieve necessary pollution reductions in the transportation sector, makes it clear Vermont is not currently on track to meet the state’s legal greenhouse gas reduction requirements.

This is why we’re asking you to please sign our petition to make it clear to Governor Scott and the Vermont Legislature that we cannot delay action any longer when it comes to addressing the climate crisis. 

For a full list of votes by all Representatives in the House on the override of the Governor’s veto of the Clean Heat Standard, see below: