Message from the CCS Board of Directors on New Abell Foundation Report Reviewing Climate Leadership Actions of Maryland and Massachusetts
December 2, 2021. It is widely acknowledged that dedicated government leadership at all levels is needed to stabilize Earth’s climate and prepare for new and emerging climate vulnerabilities on an accelerated time schedule – there is simply no time for delay or half measures. But the full set of actions required by officials to address this challenge at scale and on time is rarely explained in terms and analysis that show exactly what this requires.
The new Abell Report “Turning Up the Heat on Cooling Down the Planet: Comparing the Climate Leadership Actions of Maryland and Massachusetts,” authored by the Center for Climate Strategies (CCS), does just this by identifying the most important characteristics of government leadership and commitment necessary to address climate change by providing metrics to evaluate climate actions, gauge progress, and guide next steps.
Based on review of leading jurisdictions worldwide, the most effective climate leadership actions were found to include:
Establishment of short- and long-term emissions reductions and resilience planning targets for all sectors and alignment with social and economic goals
Incorporation of economic and environmental equity in policy development and implementation
A whole of government approach that encompasses all programmatic areas and stakeholders
A full suite of policies and measures in all sectors needed to reach targets
Implementing mechanisms to match each policy and measure, including governance and financing
Measurement systems for climate change impacts and opportunities, such as social cost of carbon and transparent, line-item policy impact analysis
Each of the above measures includes subcomponents that provide a comprehensive, metric-based evaluation framework for jurisdictions of varying size and location. The Report uses this in-depth method of analysis to review two US states with a history of climate action, Maryland and Massachusetts, by documenting their progress on climate change activities in detail over the past decade and identifying gaps for critical new actions. Findings indicate that both states were on a similar leadership track through 2016 then diverged as Massachusetts sped up climate activities while Maryland slowed down. Despite their differences, both states have made progress in addressing climate change, yet continue to face shortfalls in key action areas.
The Abell Report demonstrates the importance of not only selecting and designing appropriate climate policies and the role of stakeholder collaboration and detailed analysis, but also the absolute necessity of timely implementation of these policies by all government agencies and tracking overall performance. The CCS Board of Directors considers the Report a significant contribution to and must read for climate change decisionmakers and leadership.
Since 2004 CCS has provided policymakers with assistance in setting climate priorities and tracking overall performance in meeting climate goals and objectives. CCS has contributed to the development of both domestic and global best practices for climate change action planning, analysis, and implementation through implementation of over 100 high impact projects, including over 20 US state climate action plans, including Maryland, and numerous low carbon development initiatives in Africa, Asia, Central and South America, Europe, and the Middle East. To support these collaborations, CCS formed a template for comprehensive, multi objective climate action planning, a formal stakeholder consensus building procedure, methods and tools for the design and analysis of sector level climate mitigation and adaptation actions, and templates for investment mobilization.
