Feedback for the Climate Action Plan Reduction Measures and Content
Do you have insight or feedback for the chosen Reduction Measures for the Providence-Warwick MSA Comprehensive Climate Action Plan? Let us know by filling out this form!
Regional Project
Climate Pollution Reduction Planning Grant
Welcome to the home page of the SRPEDD-led Climate Pollution Reduction Grant (CPRG), aimed at reducing planet warming emissions across the region. Explore below to find information about CRPG, project status, and any public participation opportunities.
Project Purpose
SRPEDD is excited to announce an ongoing initiative to reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) pollution in the SRPEDD region and beyond! Through an EPA Climate Pollution Reduction Grant (CPRG) for the Providence-Warwick Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), SRPEDD will work across state lines with officials in Rhode Island alongside all 27 SRPEDD member communities to understand emission trends across the region and create an action plan to reduce these emissions into the future.
An MSA can be an unusual planning geography. Delineated by the Census Bureau, MSAs represent "a core area containing a substantial population nucleus, together with adjacent communities having a high degree of economic and social integration with that core." Both the States of Rhode Island and Massachusetts are undergoing a state-level CPRG planning process, as SRPEDD and other Massachusetts Regional Planning Agencies lead regionally-based CPRG planning efforts at the MSA level.
CPRG
For many in the Providence-Warwick MSA Planning Area, cross-border trips are part of routine, daily life. Commuting to and from work, visiting cultural destinations in Providence or desirable tourist locations on the shore, and seeking out high profile commercial corridors like Route 6 all take residents of the Planning Area across borders. Similar flows occur with natural resources, for example, with the City of Fall River, MA supplying water to Tiverton, RI. We are a coastal region. Though containing varied landscapes, taken overall we are a largely urban and suburban region. We face common challenges, climate change chief among them, but from unique contexts and regulatory vantages across state lines, and from a starting point of varied municipal priorities. This regional effort must crosswalk state-to-state and state-to-local geographies. As we prioritize strategies for limiting Greenhouse Gas emissions, we will focus on identifying how our interstate connections and regional scale reframe climate pollution reduction goals, how local efforts integrate with state level efforts, and how we can center the needs of environmental justice communities.
Project Process
The CPRG grant has two main phases; a Preliminary Climate Action Plan (PCAP) phase and then a Comprehensive Climate Action Plan (CCAP) phase.
The PCAP is the first planning analysis and report produced through the CPRG process. It is designed to identify priority GHG reduction sectors, and identify immediately actional priority climate pollution reduction measures. EPA requires the PCAP to contain the following elements:
- A GHG inventory;
- Priority quantified GHG reduction measures;
- A low-income and disadvantaged communities benefits analysis; and,
- A review of authority to implement.
The CCAP will build on the original research and initiatives in the PCAP, to analyze additional sectors and GHG reduction actions. The EPA requires the following elements be included:
- A GHG inventory
- GHG emission projections
- GHG reduction targets
- Quantified GHG reduction measures
- A benefit analysis for the full geographic scope and population covered by the plan
- A low-income and disadvantaged communities benefits analysis
- A review of authority to implement
- A plan to leverage other federal funding
- A workforce planning analysis.
Project Timeline:
Planning Outcomes:
The Providence-Warwick MSA public and municipal surveys are now open!
SRPEDD has launched a public and a municipal survey to gain feedback from key stakeholders to ensure aligned goals within the region. Both surveys are entirely anonymous and will remain open through Mid-March 2025.
The public survey can be taken by anyone within the Providence-Warwick MSA and will help to gauge the obstacles and priorities for future GHG reduction measures.
The municipal survey is intended for those who work within municipal government in the Providence-Warwick MSA to give their feedback on planning efforts around GHG reduction measures.