The DEP Climate Change Advisory Committee is scheduled to meet on April 23 to discuss a revised Pennsylvania Greenhouse Gas Inventory and an update on the Climate Impacts Assessment.
DEP is also expected to release the final 2018 Update to the Pennsylvania Climate Action Plan any day now.
Greenhouse Gas Inventory
The updated 2018 Greenhouse Gas Inventory the Committee will discuss shows overall statewide greenhouse gas emissions from all sectors have dropped from 324.54 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2000 to 287 million metric tons in 2015.
The most significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions came from coal-fired electricity generation which dropped nearly in half from 2000 to 2015-- 111.05 million metric tons to 61.38 million tons.
Natural gas generation increased from 1.13 million tons to 24.20 million metric tons.
Each of the major categories of emissions dropped-- residential, commercial, industrial, transportation, electricity production (overall), and agriculture-- except for waste management which increased from 7.88 million tons to 12.26 million tons.
Click Here for a copy of the Inventory to be discussed.
2018 Climate Plan Update
The draft Action Plan reviewed by the Committee in December for the first time included overall greenhouse gas emission reduction targets of a 26 percent reduction in net emissions by 2025 from 2005 levels and an 80 percent net reduction by 2050 to gauge the results of the recommended strategies.
The targets are in line with the goals established in the goal established by the 2015 U.N. Paris Climate Agreement.
These same goals were included in an executive order issued by Gov. Wolf in January on greenhouse gas reductions.
[Note: At the February meeting of the Committee, the Department of General Services said state agencies had already achieved the 40 percent renewable electricity goal Gov. Wolf established in an executive order issued on January 28.]
Also included in the draft Plan were over 100 recommended actions, in addition to citizen and business actions, that would help the Commonwealth reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Fifteen actions under 7 general strategy categories were selected as the most cost-effective with the biggest greenhouse gas reductions.
Click Here to review the recommendations in the draft Plan.
Impact Assessment
At the Committee’s February 26 meeting, DEP said they have begun work on an update to the state’s Climate Impact Assessment detailing expected impacts on Pennsylvania as a result of climate change.
The last Climate Impact Assessment was put out for public comment in 2015, but never finalized by DEP.
That Assessment said Pennsylvanians should prepare for dangerously high summer temperatures and more severe storms, increased threat of certain diseases carried by insects, and drastic changes to agriculture and water quality.
The report noted that by 2050, Philadelphia’s climate will be similar to current-day Richmond, VA, and Pittsburgh will be similar to current-day Washington, DC or Baltimore, MD.
DEP told the Committee in February the general impacts from climate change on Pennsylvania have not changed, so instead of producing the same kind of report, the next assessment will focus on three specific issues--
-- Livestock Production: Answering questions like-- will warmer weather in southern states cause livestock production to move to Pennsylvania? What will the economic and water quality impacts of that shift change in the state? How will the related farm economy in the state change, such as production of forage crops?
-- Resilience Of Infrastructure: How will more frequent and extreme weather events impact transportation, water and other infrastructure? What changes in infrastructure planning and construction standards be needed to make infrastructure more resilient? The Assessment will also use a large urban area-- Pittsburgh or Philadelphia-- to illustrate how policy changes can make infrastructure more resilient. It was noted PennDOT has already completed an Extreme Weather Vulnerability Study in 2017. The June 2018 update to Pennsylvania’s Federal Hazard Mitigation Plan submitted by the PA Emergency Management Agency to FEMA for the first time included a more “robust” evaluation of how climate change would affect the risk of flooding and other natural disasters in the state.
-- Meeting Water Pollution Reduction Goals: How would a changing climate impact strategies for reducing water pollution across the state? How would it affect Pennsylvania meeting its Chesapeake Bay pollution reduction obligations? Are the best management practices used now the most effective at reducing water pollution with changes in frequency, duration and severity of precipitation events? Are existing stormwater management BMPs be adequate or not? A Center for Rural Pennsylvania study has already found a 71 percent increase in very heavy precipitation events has occurred over in the Northeast United States, including Pennsylvania, over the last 54 years. DEP has also begun work with Villanova’s Urban Stormwater Partnership and its Center for Resilient Water Systems evaluating the effectiveness of the best management practices in DEP’s 13-year old Stormwater Management Manual.
The new Climate Impact Assessment is due to be completed by the end of the year.
The Committee meeting will be held in Room 105 of the Rachel Carson Building in Harrisburg starting at 10:00 a.m.
For more information and available handouts, visit the DEP Climate Change Advisory Committee webpage. Questions should be directed to Lindsay Byron, 717-772-8951, lbyron@pa.gov.(Photo: Increased flooding is an impact of climate change.)
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