§ 582 — Greenhouse gas inventories; registry

(a) Inventory and forecasting. The Secretary shall work, in conjunction with other states or a regional consortium, to establish a periodic and consistent inventory of greenhouse gas emissions. The Secretary shall publish the Vermont Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventory and Forecast by not later than June 1, 2010, and updates shall be published annually until 2028, until a regional or national inventory and registry program is established in which Vermont participates, or until the federal National Emissions Inventory includes mandatory greenhouse gas reporting. The Secretary of Natural Resources shall include a supplemental accounting in the Vermont Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory and Forecast that measures the upstream and lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions of liquid, gaseous, solid geologic and biogenic fuels combusted in Vermont.
(b) Inventory updates. To develop the Inventory under this section, the Secretary, in coordination with the Secretaries of Administration, of Transportation, of Agriculture, Food and Markets, and of Commerce and Community Development, and the Commissioner of Public Service, shall aggregate all existing statewide data on greenhouse gas emissions currently reported to State or federal entities, existing statewide data on greenhouse gas sinks, and otherwise publicly available data. Greenhouse gas emissions data that is more than 36 months old shall be updated either by statistical methods or seeking updated information from the reporting agency or department. The information shall be standardized to reflect the emissions in tons per CO2 equivalent, shall be set out in the inventory by sources or sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, automobile emissions, heating, and electricity production, shall be compatible with the inventory included with the Governor’s Commission on Climate Change final report and shall include, the following sources:
(1) information collected for reporting in the National Emissions Inventory, which includes air toxics, criteria pollutants, mobile sources, point sources, and area sources;
(2) in-state electricity production using RGGI and State permit information;
(3) vehicle miles traveled and vehicle registration data; and
(4) agricultural activities, including livestock and crop practices.
(c) Forecast. The Secretary shall use best efforts to forecast statewide emissions for a five- and ten-year period based on the inventory data and other publicly available information.
(d) Registry. The Secretary shall work, in conjunction with other states or a regional consortium, to establish a regional or national greenhouse gas registry.
(1) Any registry in which Vermont participates shall be designed to apply to the entire State and to as large a geographic area beyond State boundaries as is possible.
(2) It shall accommodate as broad an array of sectors, sources, facilities, and approaches as is possible, and shall allow sources to start as far back in time as is permitted by good data, affirmed by third-party verification.
(e) Rules. The Secretary may adopt rules to implement the provisions of this section and shall review existing and proposed international, federal, and State greenhouse gas emission reporting programs and make reasonable efforts to promote consistency among the programs established pursuant to this section and other programs, and to streamline reporting requirements on greenhouse gas emission sources. Except as provided in subsection (g) of this section, nothing in this section shall limit a State agency from adopting any rule within its authority.
(f) Participation by government subdivisions. The State and its municipalities may participate in the inventory for purposes of registering reductions associated with their programs, direct activities, or efforts, including the registration of emission reductions associated with the stationary and mobile sources they own, lease, or operate.
(g) Greenhouse gas accounting. In consultation with the Department of Public Service created under 30 V.S.A. § 1, the Secretary shall research and adopt by rule greenhouse gas accounting protocols that achieve transparent and accurate life cycle accounting of greenhouse gas emissions, including emissions of such gases from the use of fossil fuels and from renewable fuels such as biomass. On adoption, such protocols shall be the official protocols to be used by any agency or political subdivision of the State in accounting for greenhouse gas emissions. (Added 2007, No. 209 (Adj. Sess.), § 4; amended 2011, No. 170 (Adj. Sess.), § 14; 2023, No. 18, § 4, eff. May 12, 2023.)