These States Have the Most Local weather-Pleasant Transportation
A report from the Pure Sources Protection Council checked out how states balanced transportation wants with local weather and fairness efforts
Downtown historic Bennington, VT lit at evening with road lights and store home windows.
Peter Blottman Images/Getty Photos
CLIMATEWIRE | States on the East and West coasts are making higher progress in reducing emissions from the transportation programs than the remainder of the nation.
That is in accordance with a report launched Tuesday from the Pure Sources Protection Council. It highlighted these states’ efforts in areas reminiscent of good progress insurance policies and the development of electrical car chargers.
“On common, states earned the best share of accessible factors on the metric that evaluated their ratio of nonroadway-expansion spending relative to complete freeway spending, in addition to on the metrics that assessed their good progress insurance policies and EV fast-charge rely,” in accordance with the report.
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The group’s analysis additionally discovered that states within the Southeast and Midwest lagged their coastal counterparts on most measures — though there have been some surprises in states reminiscent of Oklahoma.
The most recent report is the second time NRDC has performed the examine, and it comes as the brand new Trump administration pushes to remove federal assist for local weather motion.
The findings, coupled with the federal retreat on local weather coverage, underscore the essential position that states play in shaping transportation programs — particularly since states are largely in control of constructing roads and different transit infrastructure, stated Samantha Henningson, a senior transportation advocate at NRDC who labored on the report.
“It is extra necessary than ever for states to step ahead and construct a system that is going to work for all of their residents,” Henningson stated.
As a part of the report, the states and the District of Columbia have been evaluated on their progress on electrification, their use of mass transit and different options reminiscent of bike lanes and sidewalks, and their progress on setting and assembly emissions-reduction targets.
Different metrics included how nicely every state addressed emissions from concrete and different constructing supplies it makes use of, and the way a lot they spent on sustaining versus increasing their roads and infrastructure.
Vermont scored the very best, adopted by a cluster of states in New England, the mid-Atlantic and the West Coast. The highest 10 so as: Vermont, California, Oregon, Washington state, Maryland, Colorado, Massachusetts, the District of Columbia, Rhode Island and New York.
Texas, which has traditionally centered on freeways to the detriment of different types of transportation, scored the bottom. The opposite backside 10 states have been largely within the Southeast and Midwest. Kansas was the second lowest behind Texas, adopted by Arkansas, South Carolina, Wisconsin, Mississippi, Nebraska, Idaho, Louisiana and Kentucky.
On the identical time, some Midwestern states bought excessive marks for sustaining their programs, Henningson stated. And Oklahoma carried out nicely on one measure: lowering the variety of car miles traveled.
Reprinted from E&E Information with permission from POLITICO, LLC. Copyright 2025. E&E Information gives important information for vitality and surroundings professionals.
