New climate funding focuses on electrifying buildings, school buses

Electrifying large buildings and expanding Maryland’s capacity of electric school buses and charging stations will be the focus of $90 million in new spending as the state takes its first steps toward fulfilling an aggressive climate plan, Gov.

Wes Moore and other officials said Friday.

The funds are a starting point at a time when the state budget is tight and the emissions-reduction plan — released in December by the Maryland Department of the Environment — comes with a roughly $1 billion annual price tag.

Moore, a Democrat, called the new investments a “down payment [that] shows not just a measure of sincerity but also a measure of aggression in the way we’re hoping to address this issue.”

“We know this will take time,” he said in a news conference at the State House.

Maryland lawmakers have set goals for a 60% reduction in the state’s emissions by 2031 compared to 2006 levels. The detailed plan released late last year provided a roadmap for getting there but did not call for immediate action on establishing new funding mechanisms to pay for it.

Other areas of the state budget are also facing heightened costs in coming years, including a projected $3 billion structural deficit within four years in addition to billions of extra dollars needed for education and transportation.

“We need to find those solutions together,” Maryland

Secretary of the Environment Serena McIlwain said Friday of the funding for climate goals.

The $90 million highlighted Friday comes from a previously unallocated portion of a fund managed by the Maryland Energy

Administration. It was announced in the governor’s $63.1 billion spending plan for the 2025 fiscal year, which begins July 1.

In breaking down the funding, Moore said $50 million will go toward the electrification of hospitals, schools, multi-family housing and other community buildings.

Another $23 million will be spent on building out electric vehicle charging infrastructure in low- and moderate-income communities.

And $17 million is intended for purchasing or leasing electric school buses.

“These will be muchneeded investments in overburdened and underserved communities that will have a big impact,” said Del. Dana Stein, a Baltimore

County Democrat who was one of the primary sponsors of the climate goals passed in 2022.

“Getting these funds out the door and deployed as quickly as possible will play a major role in our efforts to reduce Maryland’s emissions.”

Lawmakers, who are required to pass a state budget before the annual session ends April 8, are currently evaluating the governor’s proposal.