New climate plan calls for 100% of Maine’s electricity to come from renewable sources by 2040
PHOTO / COURTESY, NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
An electric bus, provided last September by BYD USA, was part of pilot project to determine the feasibility of electrifying the Island Explorer transit system serving Acadia National Park and Hancock County
The state’s new four-year climate plan calls for 100% of Maine’s electricity to come from renewable sources by 2040 — and to achieve carbon neutrality across Maine by 2045.
The plan, released by the Maine Climate Council and Gov. Janet Mills, is an update of the state's initial four-year plan, published in 2020.
The 2030 targets are the same in both plans.
2020 plan
In January 2019, the Mills administration set goals that included using renewable sources for 80% of the state's energy by 2030, and 100% for 2050. Those levels were estimated to cut greenhouse gas emissions 45% by 2030, and 80% by 2050, with carbon neutrality achieved by 2045.
The 2020 plan, titled "Maine Won’t Wait," also set out other goals: doubling the number of jobs in renewable energy and energy efficiency industries, offering energy efficiency incentives to businesses and consumers, harnessing new timber products for construction, lowering dependency on fossil-fuel burning transportation and ensuring equity for Maine's vulnerable populations.
Specifics at the time included increasing clean energy jobs in Maine to 30,000 by 2030, expanding consumer and business incentives for things like buying electric vehicles and home weatherization, and supporting innovative construction materials that rely on Maine timber and other "clean building" measures.
The Maine Climate Council is made up of scientists, industry leaders, bipartisan local and state elected officials and other state residents.
Achievements
By 2023, heat pump installation was one of the plan’s most significant milestones. The climate plan’s 2025 goal of 100,000 new heat pumps was surpassed two years early and a new target of 175,000 additional heat pumps in Maine by 2027 was set.
Home weatherization saw a 39% increase between 2019 and 2023.
But Maine has lagged in its electric vehicle and land conservation targets.
2024 plan
Targets for the updated plan include:
- 2030 - Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45% below 1990 levels
- 2030 – Achieve 80% electricity use
- 2030 – Create 30,000 clean energy jobs
- 2040 – Achieve 100% clean energy
- 2045 – Achieve carbon neutrality
- 2050 – Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80% below 1990 levels
Funding questions
In the last few years, three federal laws — the American Rescue Plan, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act — provided money for Maine investments that included transportation, broadband, resilience and energy.
The updated plan says federal funding to achieve climate goals is likely to decrease.
“With federal funding likely to decrease from the significant investments of the last several years, at least in the short term, Maine needs to leverage a variety of sources — existing and new, private and public, local, state and federal and innovative financing mechanisms to support transformation,” the plan says.
It calls for leveraging new financing tools for clean energy, energy efficiency, climate adaptation and infrastructure resilience projects, with the development of a long-term funding plan and investment strategy.
The plan also says: “The state should explore how to structure programs and products to attract private investment, consider the opportunity for other finance structures to provide long-term capital support for both climate resilience and energy programs, and leverage the significant federal funding that is currently available, such as the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund,” a $27 billion national investment created by the Inflation Reduction Act to expand financing for energy efficiency and carbon-reduction projects.
The plan cites philanthropy as another potential source of funding.
“While the election of a new president and a new Congress will likely put a temporary end to the federal government’s work to fight climate change, it will not put an end to work in the states,” Mills wrote in her introduction to the document.
Storm backdrop
Co-chairs of the Maine Climate Council are Melanie Loyzim, commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection, and Hannah Pingree, director of the Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future.
The backdrop to the update included three winter storms last year “that leveled widespread devastation and distress across inland and coastal Maine and revealed the depth of the climate crisis our communities, people and economy will face in the years to come,” Loyzim and Pingree said in their joint introduction.
The storms of December 2023 and January 2024 caused more than $90 million in damage to public infrastructure and millions more to private homes, businesses and property.
“Beyond these storms delivering more powerful blows to our communities, infrastructure, and electrical grid, accelerating climate change is causing winter ice to retreat from lakes, growing seasons to be disrupted, sea levels to rise and ocean surges to swell, and health and safety risks to Maine people to increase in prevalence, including illness, high heat, and increasingly, shock, fear and apprehension about how to face serious impacts yet to come,” they wrote.
Next steps
Strategies include:
- Accelerate adoption of electric and hybrid vehicles
- Invest in public and shared transportation
- Invest in weatherization and heating systems
- Build and renovate more housing that is affordable, energy-efficient and close to community centers
- Support rapid adoption of climate-friendly building codes and standards
- Promote the manufacture and use of climate-friendly building products
- Accelerate decarbonization technologies in industrial processes
- Build infrastructure needed to achieve 100% clean electricity grid by 2040
- Manage building, vehicle and industry impacts on the grid
- Increase the total acreage of conserved lands to 30% by 2030
- Develop new incentives to increase forest carbon storage
- Increase the amount of food consumed from state food producers to 30% by 2030
- Reduce food loss and waste 50% by 2030
“The new Climate Action Plan provides an ambitious and achievable pathway for meeting Maine’s climate goals while creating jobs, saving money on energy costs and making our communities more resilient for all Maine people,” said Jack Shapiro, director of climate and clean energy at the Natural Resources Council of Maine.
U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine 1st District, commented: “This year has been a stark reminder of the urgent need for climate action,” said Chellie Pingree, D-Maine 1st District. “From the intense winter storms that battered Maine’s river communities and working waterfronts to record-setting temperatures across the state and the nation, the impacts of a warming planet are undeniable. The updated plan rises to meet these challenges, focusing on transitioning to clean energy, modernizing transportation, and building climate-resilient communities.”
Eliza Donoghue, executive director of the Maine Renewable Energy Association, said, "This plan represents a significant milestone in Maine's commitment to combating climate change. By setting ambitious targets for renewable energy adoption and carbon emission reductions, Maine is positioning itself as a leader in the clean energy transition."
The next step for the new plan is to go to the Maine Legislature, which is expected to consider some of the proposals during the upcoming session.
To read the full plan, click here.
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