Maine Climate Council

Just two years of Mills' term remains as her administration races to cement its climate legacy.

Mainers in Bangor, Biddeford, Ellsworth, Lewiston, Portland and Presque Isle met with members of the Maine Climate Council in September to weigh in on the 2024 Climate Plan.

Scientists, researchers and agriculture specialists presented a new assessment of climate change in Maine to members of the Climate Council Thursday. The council will use the projections to inform a new, four-year plan and recommendations, which is due near the end of the year.

State and municipal leaders are trying to figure out how they can better prepare for more weather extremes. An emergency meeting of the Maine Climate Council was called Tuesday after three winter storms inundated coastal and riverfront communities within just one month.

The council will then devise strategies to increase Maine's resiliency to future storms, and will consider strategies used in other states.

The EPA on Monday announced that Maine will receive $3 million in funding from the Inflation Reduction Act for cutting pollution that contributes to climate change.

As of 2019, the report found, Maine's gross greenhouse gas emissions were 25% lower than in 1990. Transportation accounted for half of the state's total emissions, and those emissions had fallen by 8% since 1990. More significant emissions reductions came from the production of electric power.

The announcement came from Gov. Janet Mills at the Maine Climate Council's first-ever conference, where hundreds gathered on Friday in Augusta.

Maine hopes to submit a final plan for using electric vehicle charging funds by July 1, with the goal of getting federal approval by September.

Climate change will impact all Maine residents, but those with fewer resources may have a harder time responding to that change.