Oregon will receive almost $200 million in federal funds to bolster the state’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and meet climate goals. The state plans to use the money to roll out new or expanded programs dedicated to light, medium, and heavy-duty electric vehicle rebates, residential and commercial energy efficiency, food waste reduction, and more. 

On July 22, Governor Tina Kotek announced Oregon will be awarded $197 million through the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Climate Pollution Reduction Grant program. The grant program awarded $4.3 billion in Climate Pollution Reduction Grants to 25 applicants across the country. Oregon’s award was the largest in the Pacific Northwest.  

Oregon will use the funds to implement 12 programs identified in the Priority Climate Action Plan, which was created by the state’s Departments of Environmental Quality and Energy as part of the federal grant application. The plan lays out the blueprint for spending the $197 million to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in three areas that are major contributors to carbon emissions statewide: transportation, utility use in residential and commercial buildings, and the handling of waste and materials. 

The plan says the 12 programs will reduce cumulative greenhouse gas emissions by about 6.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MTCO2E) between 2025 and 2050. For comparison, according to the Oregon Climate Action Commission, Oregon’s greenhouse gas emissions totaled 61.1 million MTCO2E in 2021. In order to meet the state’s carbon emissions goals, Oregon’s total annual emissions should be lower than 3 million MTCO2E by 2050. 

Oregon's climate goals, established in 2020, call for state agencies to reduce and regulate greenhouse gas emissions to at least 45% below 1990 emissions levels by 2035. 

In addition to the anticipated greenhouse gas emission reductions, the plan lays out co-benefits such as improved air quality from broader electric vehicle use and reduced household utility costs. 

State leaders acknowledge the plan does not include all necessary measures to reduce Oregon’s emissions and combat the climate crisis. Rather, the plan states, these measures were prioritized based on their alignment with the EPA grant program and their ability to be implemented quickly, as well as to “achieve quantifiable emissions reductions in the next five years” and produce co-benefits. 

In other words, Oregon’s climate leaders aren’t reinventing the wheel here, and the plan doesn’t “represent an exhaustive list of measures that are needed to meet the state’s greenhouse gas reduction goals.” However, they predict the programs will be high-impact and, as Kotek said in a July 22 press release, serve as a “significant down payment on our ability to meet our reduction goals with a statewide approach.” 

“[The plan] will accelerate Oregon’s emission reduction efforts for a vibrant environment, for the health of communities across the state, and for a more sustainable future,” the press release states. 

What’s in the Priority Climate Action Plan? 

The Priority Climate Action Plan lays out 12 priority measures in the high-emissions categories of transportation, residential and commercial buildings, and waste and materials. According to the plan, these measures maximize greenhouse gas emissions while prioritizing underserved communities. 

“In addition, these measures are ready to implement with authority in place, are all scalable and provide the opportunity for transformative change through new and existing partnerships and job creation,” the plan states. 

Addressing transportation emissions through electrification  

Transportation is Oregon’s largest single source of greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for at least 35 percent of state emissions. Oregon plans to use about $65 million of the EPA grant funds to address transportation emissions through vehicle electrification programs, making it easier and less expensive for people to purchase and charge electric vehicles. 

“Incentivizing zero-emission vehicles in all classes will achieve significant reductions in greenhouse gasses,” the plan states. “Co-benefits include improved public health in

communities that are nearest to transportation corridors by lowering tailpipe emissions of criteria and toxic air pollutants such as diesel particulate matter.” 

The plan includes five measures to address transportation emissions: 

• Expand the Oregon Clean Vehicle Rebate program, offering electric car purchase incentives to Oregon residents who meet the income criteria. (Five-year implementation cost: $31 million) 
• Expand Oregon’s Community Charging Rebates program, enabling the Oregon Department of Transportation to install additional electric vehicle charging infrastructure in low income and disadvantaged communities throughout the state. ($10.9 million)
• Expand the state’s medium- and heavy-duty vehicle rebate program, which prioritizes 40 percent of rebates in communities “disproportionately burdened by diesel pollution.” ($14.8 million) 
• Expand Oregon’s medium and heavy-duty diesel emissions mitigation grant program, which provides grants to private fleets, tribes, local government, transit providers, and school districts to replace older diesel trucks by deploying new medium and heavy-duty electric vehicles. ($5.9 million) 
• Expand Oregon’s medium-and heavy-duty charging infrastructure grant program, eligible to private fleets, tribes, local governments, transit providers and school districts who want to install EV charging stations for electric trucks. ($3 million)

Transportation and environmental advocates and experts acknowledge the need for light, medium, and heavy-duty electric vehicles in order to meet statewide climate goals. But many advocates want to see the state prioritize other environmentally-friendly methods of transportation, like electric bicycles and trains. 

“[I’m] pretty skeptical on anything that doesn't improve transit access, make it safer to ride a bike, or walk places,” one transit advocate said on social media. “Great, now we can charge our electric cars, but we will still have people driving half a mile to the grocery store or to work because there's no transit access or bike infrastructure.” 

BikePortland editor Jonathan Maus says the plan “illustrates the primacy of car-centric planning at the state level.” 

“The path to lower transportation emissions is to reduce vehicle miles traveled as soon as possible,” Maus wrote on social media. “Funding e-cars does the opposite and locks us into a freeway expansion future. Missed opportunity, in my opinion.” 

Upgrade residential and commercial buildings 

Oregon plans to decarbonize residential and commercial buildings, which make up about a third of the state’s sector-based emissions, using about $66 million of the EPA grant money. 

According to the plan, Oregon has several existing programs to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from heating and cooling buildings. But “additional funding is needed to expand access to financial incentives to improve the efficiency of buildings, install energy efficient appliances and HVAC equipment, and weatherize existing residential buildings across Oregon.” 

The plan also states that Oregon’s existing programs mostly focus on existing residential buildings, leaving a gap for programs to reduce carbon emissions in commercial buildings and new residential construction. 

The plan includes four measures to address emissions in residential and commercial buildings: 

• Offer incentives for construction of energy-efficient housing, expanding existing programs to “incentivize construction of units that are at least 10 percent more energy efficient than homes built under Oregon’s base building code.” ($21.2 million) 
• Incentivize commercial building performance standards to help regulate energy consumption in select commercial buildings. ($12 million) 
• Offer incentives for heat pump installation, with priority given to low-and-moderate income households and housing providers. ($25.2 million)
• Offer incentives and assistance for residential weatherization, such as insulation or air sealing, that can significantly reduce energy use in older homes. ($8 million)

Materials and waste management 

Oregon’s consumption-based emissions inventory, which tracks emissions “produced around the world due to Oregon’s consumption of energy, goods, and services,” shows that the handling of waste and materials is another major emitter in Oregon. The plan states those emissions can be reduced through “incentives for lower-carbon materials and designs, and support for manufacturers producing low-carbon materials. Other opportunities involve reducing fugitive emissions of methane from landfills.” 

Oregon plans to use $61 million of the EPA grant funding on three programs designed to reduce waste and change the state’s materials management system:

• Encourage construction of reuse (converting existing buildings into housing) and space-efficient housing through developer incentives. ($25.5 million) 
• Build out food waste infrastructure (such as anaerobic digestion and composting) through a grants program, allowing local governments, non-profits, and community-based groups to expand or build new food waste recovery infrastructure or fund smaller-scale infrastructure projects, with priority going to underserved communities. ($28.8 million)
• Build a program to reduce methane emissions at landfills by offering landfill owners or operators a chance to seek funding for methane control projects, such as “early installation of horizontal wells, extracting additional gas from closed cells, installing or expanding energy recovery infrastructure,” and more. ($6.6 million)