Cities, towns, and tribal governments in Maine may apply for funding for local climate efforts in support of State’s climate action plan, Maine Won’t Wait
Governor Janet Mills today announced the availability of the next round of grants from the Community Resilience Partnership to help Maine communities become more resilient against climate change.
This next round of grants follows one in April, in which the Partnership awarded $2.5 million to support 75 Maine communities. These grants included direct funding to 29 towns and cities, and 13 awards to planning, economic development, and community organizations to assist another 46 towns and tribal governments with local and regional climate plans in support of Maine’s climate action plan, Maine Won’t Wait.
These communities, plus others who enroll the Partnership, are now eligible to apply through September 20 for grants to continue local climate efforts. Communities may enroll in the Partnership at any time. For more information on how your community may enroll in the Partnership and apply for funding, please visit its website.
“Partnering with communities to help them protect their citizens and infrastructure from the impacts of the climate crisis is crucial,” said Governor Janet Mills. “Communities are on the front line of this fight, and we look forward to helping even more of them through the Community Resilience Partnership in the coming weeks and months.”
“Municipal leaders seeking to assess their community’s climate resiliency should consider the opportunities available under Maine’s Community Resilience Partnership program,” said Kate Dufour, Director of Advocacy and Communications, Maine Municipal Association. “The benefits associated with membership not only include the technical assistance to identify the impacts of climate change in municipalities across the State, but access to funding necessary to implement plans via Community Action Grants.”
This summer, staff of the Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future – which administers the Partnership -- visited Partnership communities to discuss their progress toward local climate actions through the program. Examples of projects include:
- In Norway, assessing the vulnerability of critical infrastructure and certain community groups, such as the elderly, will identify town priorities for future actions.
- In Machias, a waterfront master plan with align climate resiliency goals across four major infrastructure projects in the town.
- In Biddeford, the town is collaborating with neighboring communities and the Southern Maine Planning and Development Commission to take stock of greenhouse gas emissions, assess vulnerabilities, and draft a comprehensive climate action plan.
Since taking office in 2019, Governor Janet Mills has prioritized action against climate change in Maine through reducing carbon emissions, transitioning to renewable energy, and making Maine communities more resilient to climate effects.
With bipartisan support of the Legislature, the state has enacted for Maine among the nation’s most ambitious targets for transitioning to renewable energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In 2019, she pledged Maine will become carbon-neutral by 2045, a commitment which she signed into law this year.
Maine has committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45 percent by 2030 and 80 percent by 2050, compared to levels recorded in 1990. She introduced and signed legislation to ban hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), a powerful greenhouse gas used in refrigeration and other products. She put sea level rise projections and appliance efficiency standards into law and made Maine one of the first states to adopt battery storage targets for renewable energy.
Maine Won’t Wait was the product of an unprecedented public process, led by the Maine Climate Council, to produce bold, actionable strategies for addressing one of Maine’s most pressing long-term problems.
In addition to setting aggressive renewable energy and emissions reductions goals, Maine joined the United States Climate Alliance, a bipartisan coalition of Governors and states committed to climate action, removed a moratorium on clean wind power development, and withdrew Maine from a national offshore drilling coalition.