ONE RED - Priority Climate Action Plan

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The Nebraska Priority Climate Action Plan (PCAP) is Nebraska’s first statewide climate action plan. It proposes over a dozen voluntary, high-impact, readily-implemented measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the state by 2030.

The Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy (NDEE) developed the plan using funds provided by a $3 million Climate Pollution Reduction Planning Grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The plan was submitted to EPA on March 1, 2024.

The year-long planning effort included significant input and advice from citizens and stakeholders across the state, including other state agencies, public power districts, agricultural trade groups, nonprofit and environmental organizations, and interested members of the public.

The plan includes measures that touch all sectors of Nebraska’s economy and would provide benefits to both rural and urban communities. If implemented, the proposed voluntary measures and financial incentives would reduce air pollution, stimulate economic growth, create high-quality jobs, and enhance the quality of life for all Nebraskans. The planning effort included a significant focus on benefits to low-income and underserved rural and urban communities across the state.

The GHG reduction measures included in the PCAP are:

· Promote energy efficiency and electrification upgrades for non-residential facilities
· Incentives for home energy efficiency equipment upgrades for low- and middle-income homeowners
· Residential pre-weatherization program
· Incentives for irrigation well conversion from diesel to electric
· Incentives for micro-solar arrays for critical infrastructure in low-income rural communities
· Funding for solar projects on unused/contaminated land, ag and industrial facilities, and parking lot/feedlot solar canopies
· Establish a Carbon Intensity Score Registry
· Provide incentives for regenerative agricultural practices
· Provide incentives for precision agriculture equipment
· Establish hub-and-spoke anaerobic digester/biogas hubs for agricultural waste
· Incentives to reduce food waste
· Incentives for production and use of biochar to reduce organic waste and sequester carbon in soil

In early 2024 NDEE applied to EPA for funding to implement eight measures proposed in the PCAP. In July 2024 EPA announced an award of $307 million to NDEE to implement these measures. Remaining PCAP measures may be funded in the future through other federal grant programs.

In the second phase of the planning program, NDEE is developing a Comprehensive Action Plan (CAP) to develop short-term and long-term greenhouse gas reduction measures across all sectors of the economy. The plan will also assess potential benefits statewide as well as specifically to low-income and disadvantaged communities. The CAP, which is due by December 2025, will also analyze workforce impacts arising from the proposed actions and associated training needs.