Alliance members are working to achieve the Paris Agreement’s goal of keeping temperature increases below 1.5 degrees Celsius by reducing emissions, accelerating action, centering equity, and tracking progress. 

Explore Rhode Island's policies and actions across the Alliance's 10 key policy areas. Numbers presented below only reflect the number of policies in this database and thus may not reflect all climate policies pursued.

rhode_island

GHG Targets + Governance

Just Transition + Equity

Industry

Pricing Carbon + Valuing Damages

Electricity Generation

Transportation

Resilience

Natural + Working Lands

Climate Finance

Buildings

total

2021 Rhode Island Greenhouse Gas Inventory

The Rhode Island Greenhouse Gas Inventory is the primary scientific tool used by the Rhode Island Executive Climate Change Coordinating Council (EC4) to assess statewide progress towards the emissions reduction mandates set by the Act on Climate. The inventory is an estimate of economy-wide emissions sources and sinks based on the best available science and data.

CPRG Implementation Grant: New England Heat Pump Accelerator

The Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources, along with coalition member States Connecticut (lead applicant), Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, collectively received $450 million in EPA Climate Pollution Reduction Grant (CPRG) Program Implementation Funds for the New England Heat Pump Accelerator Coalition. This coalition will leverage the power of a multi-state market to rapidly accelerate the adoption of cold-climate air-source heat pumps, heat pump water heaters, and ground source heat pumps in single-family and multifamily residential buildings across the region. Through this effort, the coalition will collectively: 
- Install nearly 580,000 electric heat pumps with the goal of heat pumps reaching at least 65% of residential-scale heating, air conditioning, and water heating sales by 2030 and 90% by 2040.
- Provide training for contractors to integrate electricity into existing manufacturer and distributor training and ensure quality installation of electric heat pumps. 
- Improve indoor and outdoor air quality, lower energy costs and energy burden, improve housing quality and comfort, and create local well-paying jobs. 
- Allocate 40% of funding to low-income and disadvantaged communities. 
- Provide incentives at the distributor level in an attempt to create a greater shift in market behavior.

Governor McKee to Propose More Than $150 Million To Combat Climate Change in FY2023 Budget

Governor Dan McKee announced that his FY2023 budget and ARPA spending plan will propose more than $150 million to fund a series of proposals that will not only reduce harmful greenhouse gasses and build more resilient communities, but it will also reinvigorate the economy by creating good paying jobs. These proposed expenditures will solidify Rhode Island as the East Coast hub of offshore wind development, support the transformation of the heating sector, electrify transportation, build municipal resiliency, conserve forests, and strengthen the State's Executive Climate Change Coordinating Council (EC4). In addition, the Governor is directing EC4 to create an environmental justice committee which will solely focus on the issues that have impacted the most vulnerable residents for decades.

Clean Heat Rhode Island Rebate Statistics is a public dashboard tracking heat pump deployment and spending across the state, including commercial, residential, and income-eligible rebate access over time

Clean Heat Rhode Island Rebate Statistics

In 2021, the Rhode Island General Assembly adopted legislation establishing the Ocean State Climate Adaptation and Resilience (OSCAR) Fund as a program to be administered jointly by the Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank (RIIB), the RI Department of Environmental Management (DEM) and the RI Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC). Rules governing the new program were adopted in 2023. The program provides financial assistance in the form of grants for adaptation and resilience projects that protect or enhance coastal or riverine habitats to address the impacts of climate change. The program is limited to projects on public lands, including lands that provide public access to shorelines and riverbanks. Rules detailing the policies and procedures of the OSCAR fund can be found [here](https://rules.sos.ri.gov/regulations/part/830-10-35-1).

Ocean State Climate Adaptation and Resilience (OSCAR) Fund

Rhode Island Solar for All

The Rhode Island coalition of applicants is proposing the launch and expansion of a comprehensive suite of seven financial assistance programs and several project deployment technical assistance initiatives designed to equitably address barriers to solar adoption in Rhode Island’s low-income and disadvantaged communities. All financial assistance programs are tailored to defray specific and longstanding financial barriers to solar adoption while addressing the needs of low-income renters and homeowners. The following financial assistance programs specifically deliver meaningful benefits of reliable solar power directly to RI's most historically underserved communities through low-income and DAC-specific eligibility requirements.