Through its support of the New Jersey Climate Change Resource Center, EAC staff provided support to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Development of a Priority Climate Action Plan for the United States Environmental Protection Agency pursuant to its Climate Pollution Reduction Grant (CPRG) program. The CPRG program is a national effort with two phases. In Phase 1, EPA has made $250 million available to states, local governments, tribes and territories to develop priority climate reduction plans. In Phase 2, an additional $4.6 billion in competitive implementation grants will be made available nationally to implement long-term measures included in Comprehensive Climate Action Plans. This effort involved a collaboration with NJDEP, other team members in the New Jersey Climate Change Resource Center, and the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at the Rutgers Bloustein School. As part of this effort, the Rutgers team supported engagement of stakeholders to inform development of the Priority Climate Action Plan, assessment of benefits that priority climate actions would deliver to low income and disadvantaged communities, and examination of workforce development opportunities associated with the priority climate actions. The NJDEP submitted the Priority Climate Action Plan to USEPA on March 1.

For more information on the CPRG program in New Jersey visit the NJDEP website.