VERMONT

The only New England state not to border the Atlantic Ocean, Vermont (with somewhat more than 600,000 residents) is the second-smallest state by population, after Wyoming, and the eighth-smallest state by area (with 9,616 square miles).

Vermont’s forest-covered mountains and fast-running rivers are home to substantial renewable energy resources and no fossil fuel reserves. Less than 100 miles across at its widest, Vermont lies between the shores of the Connecticut River on its eastern border with New Hampshire, and Lake Champlain and the Hudson River Valley on its western border with New York. The mountains that run the length of Vermont, from Canada in the north to the hills of Massachusetts in the south, occupy most of the state and have Vermont’s greatest wind resources. Rivers that descend from the mountains and those that border the state provide hydroelectric resources. Forests that cover almost four-fifths of Vermont support the state’s timber products industry, whose byproducts also fuel electricity generation and home heating. More than one in eight Vermont households use wood for their primary heating source, eight times more than the national average and the largest share of any state.

More than one-fourth of Vermont’s residents live along Lake Champlain in the northwestern county that includes the city of Burlington. Most other Vermonters live in small towns and on farms. Based on the percentage of its population that lives in rural census districts, Vermont is one of the two most rural states in the nation. In part because of the state’s small population, Vermonters use less total energy than the residents of any other state in the nation, and their total energy consumption per capita is among the lowest one-fifth of states. However, Vermont consumes more than three times as much energy as it produces.

CLIMATE IMPACTS

Since 1900, and more emphatically since the 1960s, Vermont has been getting warmer, with spring arriving two weeks earlier and winter starting one week later. 

• The air temperature has increased more than 4˚F in winter and more than 2˚F in summer over the past 50 years. Winter temperatures have increased 2.5 times faster than annual temperatures, while the number of very cold days has decreased by over seven days. 
• With 78% of its land covered in forest, and renowned for its ski industry, the increasingly warmer winters, which threaten this area of the state’s tourism, are one of Vermont’s largest climate challenges. 
• Only New Jersey, Rhode Island and Delaware have warmed faster. 
• Annual precipitation has increased by almost 7 inches during the same time period, while annual snowfall has been decreasing, with the state experiencing 2.4 more days of heavy precipitation than in the 1960s. 
• In 2023, Vermont experienced record-high levels of heavy rain leading to catastrophic flooding across the state. 
• The health of Vermont’s forests is threatened by climate-related impacts, including increased invasive plants and diseases, land use change, and worsening storms. 
• According to the Vermont Climate Assessment (2021), 92 bird species in Vermont are expected to disappear within the next 25 years due to climate change impacts. 

ENERGY 

More than 80% of Vermont’s electricity supply comes from out of state.

• In 2023, renewable resources provided about 100% of Vermont’s in-state electricity generation – the largest share of any state and true since 2014, when its last nuclear power station shut down. 
• The largest share in 2023 was from hydropower, which generated 57%of the state’s total electricity. •Solar energy’s contribution has increased rapidly, and, in 2020, was almost four times greater than it was in 2015, surpassing wind for the first time in 2021. Solar contributed 16% in 2023, biomass contributed 15% and the state’s five utility-scale wind farms produced 13%. 
• The state generates virtually no other forms of energy, producing as a result, less carbon dioxide emissions than any other state. 
• It consumes close to four times as much energy as it produces, even as its total energy consumption is the smallest of all the states. 

CLEAN ENERGY GOALS 

In 2011, Vermont set a goal to obtain 90% of all its energy from renewable resources by 2050 and to reduce its energy use by more than one-third. 

• By 2016, Vermont had committed itself to a distributed energy future whereby a significant portion of Vermont’s energy would be produced close to where it was consumed. 
• Published as the Comprehensive Energy Plan (CEP), it established goals to reduce total energy consumption per capita by 15% by 2025, and by more than one third by 2050; to meet 25% of the remaining energy needs from renewable sources by 2025, 40% by 2035, and 90% by 2050. 
• Vermont’s CEP is updated every six years, with the most recent plan published January 15, 2022. The 2022 update focuses on strategies for reducing demand and converting thermal and transportation needs to efficient electric technologies like heat pumps and electric vehicles. 
• The CEP aims to work alongside Vermont’s Climate Action Plan, both sharing goals of GHG reduction targets and equity. Updating the 2016 targets, the latest CEP aims for 25% GHG reductions by 2025, 45% by 2035 and 90% by 2050, as a starting point. 
• It also sets goals for renewables, aiming for 100% carbon-free by 2032,with at least 75% from renewables. 
• For the transportation sector, the CEP aims for 10% renewable by 2025 and 45% by 2040, and in the thermal sector, 30% renewable by 2025 and 70% by 2042. 
• Vermont’s CEP reflects the enormous progress they have made in the last years. They have ten times the amount of solar installed or permitted today than they did in 2010 and 20 times as much wind energy. Over the past two years, one out of every 100 new vehicles purchased in Vermont has been a plug-in or fully electric vehicle. 

LEGISLATION 

Vermont enacted its Renewable Energy Standard in 2015, updating it in June 2024 to require 63% of sales from renewable resources by 2025, with this percentage increasing by at least 4% every three years until reaching 100% by 2030.

• The June 2024 update represents the largest move towards renewable electricity by the state’s legislature and will put Vermont on track to be the second state to reach 100% renewable energy, behind Rhode Island. 
• In June, 2020, the Vermont Senate approved the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2020 (it had already passed the House in February), “creating a legally enforceable system by which Vermont will reduce its statewide greenhouse gas emissions and establish strategies to mitigate climate risks and build resilience to climate change.” It specifically calls for the state to reduce greenhouse gas pollution to 26% below its levels in 2005 by 2025, it requires that emissions be reduced to 40% below their 1990 levels by 2030, and ultimately 80% below by 2050. •Although Governor Phil Scott vetoed the bill both the House and the Senate voted to override his veto and the measure became law in September 2020.
• The Global Warming Solutions Act also established the Vermont Climate Council, a 23-member body tasked with developing a plan to achieve the state’s GHG reduction targets. The Climate Council’s first Climate Action Plan(CAP) was released in December 2021, and will be updated every four years.
• The CAP includes guiding principles for a just transition, and is organized into five impact areas: cutting climate pollution; resilient working and natural lands; vital communities; capturing carbon; and cross-cutting solutions. 
• Its work draws on the Vermont Climate Assessment, and the plan is designed to work alongside Vermont’s Comprehensive Energy Plan (see above). 
• The Climate Council is planning to release its second Climate Action Plan in July 2025. 
• In a groundbreaking move, the Vermont legislature passed the Climate Superfund Actin May 2024. The Climate Superfund Act allows the state to collect damages from fossil fuel companies for climate change impacts, with this funding then going towards climate adaptation projects. 
• Vermont is the first state to adopt a federal superfund model holding fossil fuel companies accountable for their environmental damage. A lawsuit has already been filed by The American Petroleum Institute and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce following the passage of a similar law in New York. 

CLIMATE ACTIONS WITH THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

• The Vermont Climate Action Office released its Priority Climate Action Plan in March 2024 under the EPA’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grants program. The plan includes a GHG inventory, GHG emission reduction measures, a low-income and disadvantaged communities benefits analysis, and climate workforce planning. While Vermont did not receive funding for its plan, the Climate Action Office is seeking alternative funding to pursue its objectives. 

COLLABORATIONS WITH OTHER STATES 

• Vermont is a member of the 11-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), which was established to cap and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power generation. Proceeds from the sale of RGGI carbon allowances help fund state energy efficiency programs like Vermont’s Energy Efficiency Utility Program, which was created to provide energy efficiency services to residential and business energy consumers.
• Vermont is one of twenty-four states, along with Puerto Rico, committed to the U.S. Climate Alliance, which is working to implement policies that advance the goals of the Paris Agreement.