What's New
On March 1st, 2024 DEP submitted Pennsylvania’s Priority Climate Action Plan to the EPA to highlight nine key actions to reduce statewide greenhouse gas emissions. The full plan is available here. This PCAP is a prerequisite to the Commonwealth and other entities in the Commonwealth applying for a share of the $4.6 Billion available from the EPA. If you are a local government or municipality that is submitting an implementation grant, please ensure that it is covered under the measures in the PCAP. For more information, visit our Inflation Reduction Act page and reach out to RA-EP-CPRG@pa.gov with any questions.
Through its Climate Action for Environmental Justice Communities program, the Energy Programs Office was able to engage the public and utilize that feedback to develop resources that will ultimately help DEP and communities. The Program Development Toolkit (PDF) and Energy Funding and Assistance Resources are designed to help communities find and access financial and technical assistance opportunities with the ultimate goal of better addressing environmental justice and equity concerns.
What is Climate Change?
The global climate is changing due, in part, to the increase in emissions and concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHG) over the last century. Gases such as methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) trap radiant heat from the Earth in the atmosphere and cause a greenhouse effect. These gases have a radiative effect causing an imbalance of the heat energy in the atmosphere, causing either a warming or a cooling of the Earth's climate. Most GHGs take decades to break down and leave the atmosphere.
In Pennsylvania, our climate has undergone a long-term warming of more than 1° C (1.8° F) over the past 110 years. Pennsylvania’s climate has also become wetter, with a 10 percent increase in the amount of precipitation, on average. Pennsylvanians can expect to see an additional 8 percent increase in precipitation by 2050. Human activities related to greenhouse gas emissions have been linked to disruption in the global climate.
The Pennsylvania Climate Change Act (Act 70 of 2008) requires DEP to:
- develop an inventory of GHG emissions and update it annually;
- administer a Climate Change Advisory Committee;
- set up a voluntary registry of GHG emissions;
- prepare a Climate Change Impacts Assessment & provide an update once every three years; and
- prepare a Climate Change Action Plan & provide an update once every three years