The Baker-Polito Administration has stepped up over the past year in strong support of the Transportation & Climate Initiative (TCI). In December, 2018, Massachusetts, eight other states, and the District of Columbia released an agreement to collaborate through TCI over the course of 2019 to develop the framework for a regional program to improve clean transportation options -- including reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The transportation sector has been the leading source of greenhouse gas emissions for several years. Vulnerable residents, especially those affected by air pollution that exacerbates respiratory illnesses such as asthma, need clean transportation options. The Massachusetts Global Warming Solutions Act requires an 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from all sectors below 1990 levels by 2050. Governor Baker has consistently expressed support for clean transportation options and a market-based solution to tackling transportation emissions. He highlighted transportation emissions in his second-term inaugural address, his Commission on the Future of Transportation recommended the advancement of TCI, and his administration’s environment, energy, and transportation agency officials are leading many TCI working groups. The legislature has also shown support for a clean transportation future in 2018 with the Senate adding a provision to an energy bill requiring a market-based mechanism for transportation emissions (which did not prevail in the enactment of the law) and more recently a new bill codifying the Commonwealth’s engagement in TCI.  


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