New Hampshire is in the process of updating its climate action plan for the first time since 2009, and opportunities for Granite Staters to engage with the process are coming up.
The state was awarded a federal grant to help update its plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and the first installation of the plan — called a priority climate action plan — is due in March 2024. The second plan — a comprehensive climate action plan — is due in August 2025.
Submitting the priority climate action plan is a requirement for New Hampshire to be eligible for a part of the $4.6 billion in federal funding set aside to implement climate solutions across the country. The submission of that plan will allow organizations in New Hampshire that are identified in the plan to apply for implementation grants.
Over the next few months, residents will be able to give their input on the plan. New Hampshire Listens, an initiative at the University of New Hampshire’s Carsey School of Public Policy, is facilitating community engagement, which state regulators say is an essential part of the planning process.
“The design and initial efforts to identify climate action priorities must actively involve the participation of people who live in communities that experience a disproportionate burden of environmental hazards that affect their quality of life,” officials said on their website.
Michele Holt-Shannon, the co-founder and director of New Hampshire Listens, says they’re hoping to make sure they’re connecting with as many people as possible, with a particular focus on communities that have experienced higher environmental burdens, also known as environmental justice communities.
“I will be happy at the end of this if we have a climate action plan that people feel will be useful and actionable and if people across the state, everyday folks, feel connected to the projects that they can work on in their own backyard,” she said.
Holt-Shannon said the engagement process will happen in phases, with the first round of interviews and events focused on people who are involved professionally in some way with climate change mitigation and adaptation.
There are also a set of “community conversations” that are scheduled to take place online starting in early December, for members of the public who may not be professionally involved with climate solutions but want to weigh in.
The first is scheduled for Dec.6, with others on Jan. 9 and Jan. 24.
New Hampshrie Listens is also scheduling in-person events in communities across the state. The communities that will host in-person meetings were chosen by looking at data about which communities are considered environmental justice communities in New Hampshire.
Those communities are:
- Berlin
- Claremont, Charlestown, Ashuelot
- Colebrook
- Concord
- Groveton, Lancaster, North Stratford
- Hampton Beach, Seabrook Beach
- Hinsdale, Winchester
- Manchester
- Nashua
Registration links can be found here for engagement meetings on the state’s new climate plan.
