Nationwide, 207 entities, including States, Metro Areas, and Tribes, received planning grants under the EPA’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grants Program. In New Mexico, seven governments were awarded these funds, including the State, the City of Albuquerque, the Pueblo of Santa Ana, the Pueblo of Sandia, the Navajo Nation, and the Pueblo Consortium of Tesuque, Nambe, Picuris, and San Ildefonso. The first deliverable for this grant was the Priority Climate Action Plan (PCAP), which set out an initial list of shovel-ready projects that both reduced climate pollution and benefit frontline communities. With these initial plans complete, the State and City are now developing their respective Comprehensive Climate Action Plans (CCAP), due December 1st, 2025. These documents will spell out how the State and local governments in Central New Mexico will meet reduction targets and ideally be carbon neutral by 2050. All Comprehensive Climate Action Plans submitted to the EPA under this grant program will include:
- Greenhouse Gas Inventory
- Greenhouse Gas Reduction Targets
- Greenhouse Gas Emissions Projections
- Quantified Greenhouse Gas Reduction Measures
- Benefits Analysis
- Low Income Disadvantaged Community Analysis
- Workforce Analysis
The State of New Mexico has gathered comments from their public meetings on their PCAP and is actively working with other state agencies and the Interagency Climate Change Task Force to develop their CCAP. The CCAP will include more specific strategies for implementing the priority measures developed in the PCAP, along with more complete analyses of the gaps between climate pollution emissions targets and current and planned emission reduction efforts. To ensure community voices are heard in this next plan, the State has launched a community survey and is hosting a series of public engagement events, including a joint event with the City of Albuquerque on March 27th.
To learn more about the State’s efforts, visit: Climate Action Planning – New Mexico Climate Change Action
To learn more about the City of Albuquerque’s efforts, visit: Central New Mexico Resilient Futures Initiative
By June 2027, all CPRG recipients will publish a status report detailing implementation progress along with relevant analytical updates, next steps, and future budget and staffing needs to continue implementing CCAP measures. For the State, this is after the end of the Lujan Grisham administration and would depend for its thoroughness and timing – perhaps even its existence – on the inclinations of the next New Mexico administration that takes office after the 2026 gubernatorial election, as well as any – highly unlikely – funding and support from the Trump administration.