Report: CT Leads on Clean Energy

​CTLCV's national affiliate, the League of Conservation Voters, has released their latest annual Clean Energy For All: Clean Energy Success in the States report. 

The report shows how state-level progress, like here in Connecticut, is helping move the country forward toward clean, affordable, and reliable energy. This year, states advanced major clean energy measures, expanded low-cost technologies, and strengthened protections for consumers. These efforts are paying off: states with higher levels of wind and solar are seeing lower-than-average electric bills.

Below is the excerpt highlighting Connecticut's achievements over the past year. To explore the full CEFA report, click here.

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Connecticut
​NET ZERO BY 2050
An omnibus climate law strengthened Connecticut’s emissions reductions goals and set a net-zero by 2050 target economy-wide. It also created a Clean Economy Council to develop strategies that will help the state meet emissions reduction goals, and the law offers a variety of incentives and programs promoting solar, energy-efficiency, heat pumps, and green jobs.

ELECTRICITY GRID MODERNIZATION
Connecticut enacted comprehensive energy affordability legislation that will cut energy costs for ratepayers, improve the electrical grid, and continue clean energy investments.

CLIMATE RESILIENCY 
Connecticut passed a law that will proactively address climate change impacts and promote nature-based solutions, including helping municipalities prepare for sea level rise and natural disasters.

CLIMATE-RESPONSIBLE DEVELOPMENT 
Lawmakers approved a new State Plan of Conservation and Development that prioritizes climate change in development decisions over the next five years. In addition, the Connecticut Legislature made updates to the State Water Plan to account for climate change impacts in long-term planning. 

After two legislative sessions with little climate progress, Connecticut’s net-zero by 2050 goal was years in the making. Connecticut LCV (CTLCV) was at the forefront of crafting the omnibus legislation in 2023 and 2024, and they coordinated multi-year advocacy efforts with partners across the state as a member of the steering committee of the Connecticut Coalition For Climate Action. CTLCV helped organize multiple lobby days with hundreds of attendees and a climate march with over 200 participants, hosted a series of Action Hour events to engage and mobilize supporters, and drove over 2,300 constituent messages to decision makers in support of the legislation. 

CTLCV worked especially closely with freshmen legislators to educate them on environmental issues and help them feel empowered to champion environmental policy at the State House. At their annual Environmental Summit, CTLCV brought together state decision makers and hundreds of supporters to help set the environmental priorities for the legislative session, including the net-zero by 2050 goal.

In addition, CTLCV consistently elevated the net-zero goal to lawmakers and the public, and maintained visibility through hosting press conferences with partners, placing op-eds, running extensive digital ad campaigns, and taking out print ads in prominent newspapers.

“As Co-Chair of the joint Energy & Technology Committee, I depend on Connecticut LCV as a partner to help me frame the environmental imperatives for my colleagues and the public. They are instrumental in informing our legislative priorities every session.”
Representative Jonathan Steinberg, Co-Chair, Energy & Technology Committee, Connecticut General Assembly ​