Starting in 2025, Oregon will begin distributing $197 million to residents, businesses, and Tribes to support climate pollution reduction measures through the CERTA grant. These measures will reduce greenhouse gas emissions from buildings, housing, transportation, and waste, while providing benefits to surrounding communities.
Read Oregon's Climate Equity and Resilience Through Action Grant
DEQ will be announcing when funds become available on the CERTA web page and through the Climate Pollution Reduction Planning Grant GovDelivery notifications.
The money was awarded to Oregon by the Environmental Protection Agency as part of the Climate Pollution Reduction Grant under the Inflation Reduction Act. The process to develop Oregon's proposal included engagement with partner agencies, local jurisdictions, and Tribes with a shared goal to create sustainable and transformative approaches to tackling the climate crisis. This funding will infuse innovative and durable programs across the state identified in Oregon's Priority Climate Action Plan, which Oregon developed as part of the EPA's Climate Pollution Reduction Grant Program. Led by DEQ's Office of Greenhouse Gas Programs, this work is a multi-agency effort that funds initiatives for Oregon Departments of Energy, Transportation, Housing and Community Services, the State Health Authority, and Energy Trust of Oregon. While the measures funded in this grant do not represent all the necessary and needed actions for emission reductions in Oregon but are an importation infusion for programs across the state.
What is Oregon's Climate Pollution Reduction Planning Grant?
The Climate Pollution Reduction Grant Program is one of many federal funding opportunities created through the Inflation Reduction Act and run through EPA. EPA provided the first round of grants to states, local governments, Tribes, and territories to develop plans for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other harmful air pollution.
Through this first grant, the state of Oregon created a Priority Climate Action Plan and submitted it to EPA on Feb. 29, 2024. Our next deliverable to EPA is the Comprehensive Climate Action Plan, due December 2025, to highlight even more opportunities to reduce climate pollution. In addition to the state, Affiliated Tribes of the Northwest Indians and the Portland-Hillsboro-Vancouver region led by Metro are leading planning grants. For more information, see this overview of Oregon work on the CPRG.
Next steps
Oregon is preparing to accept funds for the CERTA grant, which includes hiring staff to support the implementation, contract development, and modeling for this grant. We anticipate funds will start infusing programs in 2025.
Additionally, building on the PCAP, Oregon is developing the Comprehensive Climate Action Plan. The goal of the CCAP is to acknowledge and consolidate the work Oregon is already doing, look for additional opportunities, and examine the gaps to addressing climate in the state such as workforce development. This report may be used to prioritize climate efforts and seek funding sources.
CCAP Priorities:
- Develop economy wide reduction measures, including sinks
- Prioritize community benefits, particularly for those disproportionately impacted
- Engage with Tribes, impacted communities, and intergovernmental agencies
- Understand gaps in policies and data
- Determine workforce impact
- Reduce greenhouse gases to achieve Oregon's 2050 targets
The CCAP will consist of numerous work streams including updates GHG inventories, modeling existing and potential measures to meet Oregon's GHG reduction targets, and public and private feedback.