2. The Legislature finds and declares that, internationally, the issue of global warming has caused alarm, awareness, and action concerning climate changes occurring around the globe attributed to the high level of certain gases called “greenhouse gases” – gases that increase temperatures in the atmosphere and the risk of catastrophic changes to the Earth’s ecosystems and environment; that, while this global warming may be a theory to some, the effects of increasing levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are accepted by all respected scientists and the vast majority of the international community as seriously detrimental to the ecosystems and environment of the world; that, ultimately, if steps are not taken to reverse these trends, the effects on human, animal and plant life on Earth may be catastrophic; that solutions exist to halt the increasing of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and reduce these emissions; that, as a global issue, each country and region within a country must do its part to reduce these greenhouse gases that threaten the globe; and that, as a State, there are specific actions that can be taken to attack the problem of global warming, through reductions of greenhouse gas emissions in the State and participation in regional and interstate initiatives to reduce these emissions regionally, nationally, and internationally.

The Legislature further finds and declares that, while carbon dioxide is the primary and most abundant greenhouse gas, other greenhouse gases known as short-lived climate pollutants, including black carbon, fluorinated gases, and methane, create a warming influence on the climate that is many times more potent over a shorter period of time than that of carbon dioxide, and have a dramatic and detrimental effect on air quality, public health, and climate change; and that reducing emissions of these pollutants can have an immediate beneficial impact on climate change and public health.

The Legislature therefore finds and declares that it is in the public interest to establish a greenhouse gas emissions reduction program that includes a comprehensive strategy to reduce short-lived climate pollutants and to limit the level of Statewide greenhouse gas emissions, and greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generated outside the State but consumed in the State, to the 1990 level or below, of those emissions by the year 2020, and to reduce those emissions to 80 percent below the 2006 level by the year 2050.

L.2007, c.112, s.2; amended 2019, c.197, s.1.