Public Service Commission concludes Maryland can meet its climate goals: report - Fox Baltimore
Public Service Commission concludes Maryland can meet its climate goals | WBFF
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WBFF) — The Maryland Public Service Commission concluded the state can meet its future climate goals on Friday.
The office determined Maryland can reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 60% by 2031 and attain a net-zero economy by 2045, according to a study obtained by the Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN).
"Maryland is on the cusp of an exciting transition to a 21st-century energy future,” Anne Havemann, Deputy Director of CCAN, said.
The commission also claimed the state can provide health and economic benefits for Maryland residents. The perks include new jobs, improved air quality and household cost savings.
“Our state leaders in the General Assembly and Gov. Moore must now pursue policies that will equitably deliver healthy, pollution-free homes," Ruth Ann Norton, President of the Green & Healthy Homes Initiative, urged, according to CCAN.
The Public Service Commission assessed the ability of gas and electric companies' distribution systems to "successfully serve customers" under a transition to a "highly electrified" building sector. The agency showed the systems can handle high levels of electrification through 2031.
"This study modeled electrification scenarios that would result in direct building heating emissions reductions," the office stated, according to the report.
It also argued the study enables policymakers to measure the impacts of decarbonization scenarios through the next several years. The scenarios would generate fuel savings, reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas emission health impacts and avoid natural gas infrastructure investments.
Norton claims the findings can usher in effective equipment improving residents' quality of life.
"This study shows that not only can we upgrade homes across the state with clean, highly efficient equipment that will slash pollution and improve public health, but we already have the grid capacity to make those updates,” she said, according to CCAN.
The Climate Solutions Now Act of 2022 required the Public Service Commission to perform the analysis.
Related Knowledge Center: Climate legislation
The federal government and states are in the process of implementing two laws — the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act — an investment of more than a trillion dollars to address climate change.