How will CCA funds be invested?

With just 17 days left in Session, negotiators from the Washington State House and Senate are working to align their biennial budgets – and we’re working to help them prioritize investments that will quickly and cost-effectively return clean economy benefits across our state.

Revenues from Climate Commitment Act (CCA) emissions allowance auctions will be allocated in ways that will support Washington state in achieving its greenhouse gas emissions reduction requirements, improve public health, spur creation of union jobs, boost private investments, and reduce compliance costs. Both the Senate and the House propose biennial budgets of about $1.8 billion. What are the differences? What are the highlights?

In summary, here are the major categories of investment, and the respective House and Senate budget proposals:

For greater detail on Transportation, click this chart to see highlights from the House and Senate budget proposals:

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Budget-Climate-Commitment-Act-Allocations_Transportation

Transportation is the largest category of investment, and within that is a significant opportunity to accelerate fleet decarbonization and support Washington truck-building jobs. Trucks and buses represent just 10% of vehicles on Washington’s roads and highways, but are responsible for 30% of the state’s GHG emissions, and disproportionately contribute to low air quality in low-income and historically disadvantaged neighborhoods. 

We note that the proposed House budget aligns well with the Advanced Clean Truck Rule as it would cost-effectively incentivize purchases across various vehicle classes and end-users. This is critical because sales mandates do not guarantee fleet adoption or infrastructure readiness. Small businesses and independent owner-operators of MHD vehicles can realize significant fuel savings and lower maintenance costs by replacing diesel trucks with ZEVs, but face higher upfront costs that can be addressed with incentives. And those incentives can be used to purchase zero-emission MHD vehicles that are made right here in Washington state.

Today the Clean & Prosperous Washington MHD/Zero Emission Vehicles Working Group and other partners – representing a diverse group of large and small organizations from the environmental, business, and labor communities – delivered a letter to legislators that strongly advocates for investments in decarbonizing medium- and heavy-duty zero emissions vehicles:

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MHD-Letter-April_2023

This letter to legislators references information from the Zero Emission Trucks paper we published in our Smart Climate Investments for a Clean Economy series:

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Smart-Climate-Investments-–-Zero-Emissions-Trucks

During the next few days we’ll share a closer look at proposed budgets for Clean Energy, Buildings, and Natural Resources.