Vermont Climate Action Office details staffing, modeling contracts and new tracking tool ahead of 2025 plan

The House Energy and Digital Infrastructure Committee heard an overview on Jan. 15 from the Agency of Natural Resources’ Climate Action Office about staffing, modeling, grants and a new web-based tool intended to track state climate progress.

James Orcek, who identified himself as leading the Climate Action Office, told the committee that the office was formed after the initial climate action plan and is intended to coordinate climate work across state agencies. "The Climate Action Office was a recommendation that came out of the initial climate action plan that was adopted on December 1, 2021," Orcek said, describing the office's role in supporting the climate council and meeting requirements under the Global Warming Solutions Act.

Why it matters: committee members pressed the office on whether Vermont is on track to meet GWSA targets and on how the state will measure progress. Orcek said the office is building a new measuring-and-assessing-progress tool to show program-level activity (for example, counts of weatherizations or heat pumps installed) and to help identify where implementation is falling short of targets. "It's not intended to quantify... although because the greenhouse gas inventory is supposed to be the place where we're quantifying emissions for the state of Vermont," Orcek said, describing how the tool will complement the annual greenhouse gas inventory.

Most important facts

- Tool and timeline: The office is in Phase 1 of the tracking tool, focused on defining metrics and planning; Phase 1 is expected to be finished by the end of the current fiscal year. The office has a planning contract of about $250,000 and said it had roughly $380,000 carried forward in its budget that could be applied to building the tool.

- Modeling contract: The Climate Action Office has a four-year, $400,000 contract with the Stockholm Environment Institute to support scenario modeling using the Low Emissions Analysis Platform (LEAP). Orcek said those funds come from federal climate planning grants (the office called these an Inflation Reduction Act grant for climate planning).

- Staffing and duties: The office said it has eight full-time staff with two vacancies; one open position is the climate change progress analyst who handles the greenhouse gas inventory. Orcek said the office administers the climate council (it provides staff and contracts but does not act on behalf of the council) and supports rule-making and technical analysis required by the Global Warming Solutions Act.

- Grants and programs: The office described one-time funding and grants it manages, including an appropriation supporting refrigerant leak detection and a grant to the Vermont Energy Investment Corporation (VEIC) for grocery-sector refrigerant management. The office also said it funded "energy navigators"—positions originally supported by American Rescue Plan Act funds—to help low-income Vermonters access federal incentives; those ARPA funds ended in calendar year 2024 and the office said it has requested budget funding to continue the positions.

- Rulemaking and policy work: Orcek outlined that the GWSA requires sector-based emissions reductions and referenced work on the comprehensive energy plan, advanced vehicle standards (Advanced Clean Cars 2 and Advanced Clean Trucks) and a cap-and-invest policy study. He emphasized the office’s role in technical analysis and in supporting interagency coordination.

Committee questions and follow-ups

Committee members asked whether the planned tracking tool would quantify emissions reductions from individual measures. Orcek said the greenhouse gas inventory remains the canonical quantification and that the planned tool will show implementation metrics and where the state is falling short of targets.

Members also asked about fossil fuel price forecasting, community engagement (how rural and low-broadband communities are included), and coordination with the state recovery office on resilience and post-disaster aid access for small towns. Orcek said the recovery office and the resilience implementation strategy steering committee are coordinating closely with the Climate Action Office on those topics.

Background and next steps

Orcek told the committee the greenhouse gas inventory lags roughly two years because of national datasets; the inventory needed to demonstrate whether the state met the Jan. 1, 2025 statutory target will be published in 2026. The climate council is updating the climate action plan with a statutory deadline of July 1 for the next plan cycle. Orcek said the office will continue to refine modeling assumptions, maintain the LEAP license and support the council’s subcommittees through the update process.

The Climate Action Office provided committee members links to materials and said it will share documents related to the resilience implementation strategy and other reports. Energy Action Network is scheduled later on the committee agenda to present climate-related data and per-capita comparisons.