In 2018, Burlington, Vermont officials created a plan to achieve Net Zero Energy by 2030. This week the Burlington Electric Department provided an update and announced new programs to help achieve that goal.
The Net Zero Energy plan is focused on eliminating the use of fossil fuels in Burlington’s heating and ground transportation.
A so-called Roadmap was created and the Burlington Electric Department tracks and reports on progress. The 2024 update, released Wednesday, shows greenhouse gas emissions in the ground transportation and buildings sector are down 19 percent from the 2018 baseline.
Burlington Electric Department General Manager Darren Springer says the program has been making steady progress towards the goal.
“We haven’t reached our goals. But we’re making good headway and we’re seeing more Burlington residents driving electric. That was a real plus in this report,” Springer asserted. “We’re seeing almost 6 percent of the vehicle fleet in Burlington is now electric or plugin hybrid. Every single year we’ve seen reductions in natural gas consumption. I think the good news is we’re trending ahead of state, ahead of federal trends in terms of our progress. We know we have a lot more to do to ultimately reach our goals.”
Springer says the data indicates the city is not likely to make the 2030 goal but is meeting global expectations for emissions reductions.
“There’s also an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change goal that runs pretty much over the same time frame that we’re tracking. And they said the global community needed to reduce CO2 emissions by about 48 percent and we are relatively on track to meet that goal,” Springer said. “By shooting for one of the most ambitious goals anywhere in the country and putting everything we know how to do into that effort including Net Zero energy revenue bond investments, dozens of electrification incentive programs and other technologies we’re seeing progress that’s in line with what science has called for.”
To advance the Net Zero goal, new and expanded programs are being implemented. They include an EV charging Flexible Load option, a pilot residential battery storage initiative, and a heat pump bill credit. Springer says the goal is affordability as electrification progresses.
“The idea is if we can add those and not exacerbate peak demand, which is where a lot of costs come in, we can really benefit all of our customers economically and provide some shared savings back to the customers who are participating,” noted Springer.
Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, a Progressive, says initiatives offered through the Net Zero program are making the electrification transition possible at all income levels.
“Those incentive programs are really helpful for local folks being able to access things that may have been out of their economic reach before,” the mayor said. “And what BED has done so well is innovate, to think about how more folks can make individual consumer choices that can help our collective goal around climate.”
The city had received a nearly $5 million federal grant for Net Zero initiatives. But Mulvaney-Stanak says recent White House actions are impeding the city’s climate goals.
“Very early after Trump became president again we had one of our large grants from the federal government frozen that was supposed to help us accelerate our work on electrification of vehicles and access for folks to charge vehicles,” Mulvaney-Stanak said. “We are able to pivot a little bit to make sure we’re freeing up other local resources that we still have control over. But we can’t do nearly as much. And that’s the part that has an immediate impact is that we will not be able to make the kind of real gains and strides that we were planning to do with that federal grant.”
Springer adds:
“The uncertainty that exists around the federal incentives that are currently available, but that are in some cases are potentially being targeted for recission, that would be a real headwind as well. If we lose the federal EV tax credit for example. Those are all things that push against the type of progress that we’re trying to make here in Burlington,” Springer said.
Springer will present the Net Zero update to the City Council on Monday.
