The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has released a draft Strategic Climate Action Plan (SCAP) that outlines a series of regulatory plans and policy actions to address the worsening impacts of climate change in the state.
The SCAP’s actions focus on reducing harmful climate pollutants, investing in climate resilience, developing a model of sustainable waste management, furthering climate equity in the state’s overburdened communities, enhancing educational and communication efforts, and considering climate impacts in decision-making across all DEP programs.
The SCAP follows the 2020 launch of the New Jersey Protecting Against Climate Threats (NJPACT) initiative to advance state-specific climate science through planning and policy actions, and regulatory reforms. The SCAP aims to advance the implementation of NJPACT by increasing public awareness of the DEP’s climate action plans, coordinating climate pollutant emissions reduction efforts, and building climate resilience statewide.
The plan will be available for public comment for 30 days.