Governor Wes Moore’s commitment to a “whole-of-government approach to address climate change” in his executive order last month is a reassuring step toward tackling the climate crisis. A major challenge in effectively addressing climate issues has been the siloed nature of government agencies, often leading to a resistant, business-as-usual mindset. The governor’s order is a clear call to rally around a comprehensive climate action plan that will yield environmental gains while growing our economy and creating tens of thousands of jobs.
Moore’s order mandates that individual state agencies examine their operations to identify opportunities to mitigate their climate impacts. Each department will submit an annual report detailing its plans and efforts to help the state achieve its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 60% of 2006 levels by 2031 and ensuring a just transition to a clean economy. These agency plans will focus on the environmental, economic and social impacts of climate change, including environmental justice and the disproportionate effects on underserved and overburdened communities. Maryland’s Climate Pollution Reduction Plan published last year estimates implementation of new climate policies will generate up to $1.2 billion in public health benefits.
Moore’s executive order wisely set expectations for his agencies that they maximize federal funding opportunities dedicated to climate goals. Congress’s Inflation Reduction Act allocates billions of dollars toward clean energy and climate initiatives. A concerted focus on securing these federal funds will ensure Maryland citizens receive the best results in exchange for their tax dollars.
One of the quickest and most effective actions we can take to reduce our carbon footprint is to mitigate methane emissions, which are more than 25 times more detrimental than CO2 to our ozone layer. The first step in this process is to divert food waste from landfills or incinerators, and several of Moore’s agencies have already stepped up to the plate to accomplish that goal by rethinking their operations to improve sustainability.
The Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services has partnered with private industry to implement programs at their correctional facilities, diverting 8 to 10 tons of food residuals per week for recycling. These food residuals are converted through an anaerobic digestion process at the Bioenergy Devco facility, an organics recycling center that extracts and cleans the water, captures the resultant methane gas and turns it into renewable natural gas for use as a source of clean, renewable energy. The residual organic material is used to promote soil health in agricultural fields.
The Maryland Aviation Administration is working to divert food waste from BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport to organic recycling facilities. Other state agencies, such as the Department of Agriculture, are taking aggressive actions to implement precision agriculture practices to support climate goals.
The Maryland Department of the Environment is leading the state-level pollution reduction plan and helping agencies establish climate action plans and collaborate with private green industry programs.
There’s still much work to be done at the agency level, however, and the opportunity to develop a plan with significant potential. For example, the Maryland Port Administration oversees the processing of roughly 1.8 million tons of imported agricultural material that passes through its Port of Baltimore annually, and it should do whatever it can to reduce the emissions impact of that cargo. Identifying these opportunities to target real results through aggressive action will help us meet our climate goals.
Governor Moore’s forward-thinking executive order will fast-track Maryland’s climate efforts by requiring agencies to lead by example. Agencies must rethink how they operate to promote efficiency, sustainability and environmental stewardship in reaching our climate goals while ushering in a resilient new green economy that benefits all Marylanders.
Andrew Cassilly ([email protected]) is vice president of government relations at Bioenergy Devco.
