2025 Legislative Recap
2025 has been a challenging year for climate justice in the United States and abroad. Among other assaults on science, common sense, and values, the Trump administration has attempted to gut environmental agencies and reverse established climate policy. The administration’s philosophy seems to be that ignoring the climate crisis will make it go away. Even the Environmental Protection Agency has been turned on its head: under Trump loyalist Lee Zeldin, the EPA announced plans to repeal limits on air pollution, revoke protections for wetlands, and rescind the government’s legal ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. At the beginning of this month, Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” gutted funding for wind and solar while propping up Big Oil and drastically cutting healthcare and education.
Given the national outlook, local action is crucial, and we are working harder than ever to resist erosions of climate progress at the state level. This legislative season, concerned Vermonters came together to insist that we keep moving in the right direction towards effective climate policy. Despite new challenges to hard-won victories, we called on lawmakers to strengthen our communities, reflect our values, and meet the challenges of the climate crisis with conviction and common sense.
If we had any illusions that climate policy rollbacks wouldn’t come to Vermont, they were dispelled by Governor Scott’s “Affordable Climate Action Management Plan” released in February. The plan proposed weakening the 2020 Global Warming Solutions Act (the bill that set emissions reduction targets for Vermont): rather than developing reasonable ways to meet our climate goals, Scott suggested that we simply move the goalposts. The plan also proposed to strip Vermont’s Climate Council of much of its independence and authority, shunt state money away from efficiency and weatherization programs, and more. The plan, which was soundly defeated in the legislature, is indicative of the kinds of threats to climate policy we will likely see in coming years: delaying necessary actions until it’s too late to make any difference, and putting the responsibility for transitioning to clean energy onto individual consumers.
Climate action was also on the budgetary chopping block this year. Senator Scott Beck (R-Caledonia) introduced amendments to the fiscal appropriations bill for 2026 (H.493) seeking to repeal several pieces of climate policy. The amendment would have:
Repealed the citizen suit provision in the Global Warming Solutions Act, thus preventing Vermonters from holding the administration accountable for inaction on climate
Repealed Vermont’s clean cars and clean trucks rules, immediately kicking us out of a multi-state program requiring auto companies to provide electric vehicles
Repealed the Affordable Heating Act;
In response, hundreds of Vermonters contacted their legislators asking them not to support Beck’s amendments, which didn’t make it into the final bill.
Also under budgetary threat was the Climate Superfund Act, last year’s groundbreaking law that makes Vermont the first state in the nation to hold big oil financially accountable for the effects of climate change. This year, the legislature was due to allocate funding for the Act this year. Despite heavy opposition (some of which came from the Trump administration), Vermonters called on lawmakers to do the right thing and support the act. They did, and our state can begin the process of making polluters pay for climate-related damage.
The Climate Action Plan—Vermont’s roadmap to a transition off fossil fuels and towards a clean energy future—was revised this year (per its required update every four years). Amid concerns that industry and utility pressure would result in a watering down of this critical document, 88 350VT volunteers submitted public comments on the Plan. They asked that the Climate Council enact a moratorium on approval of new utility-scale biomass facilities, incentivize low-emissions renewable energy, and support weatherization plans, among many other goals. 350VT also submitted an official comment, drafted by a group of ten volunteers. We are united in the belief that effective climate action must center climate justice and promote solutions that benefit all Vermonters, and that it must be based on an honest accounting of our state’s contributions to global warming.
In short, despite a general trend towards climate rollbacks and steep opposition from above, Vermonters held the line on climate justice in 2025. That is no small thing. As we look forward to next year’s legislative session, there will be plenty more to do. We plan to work on ratepayer protection, fight further rollbacks on climate policy, and show solidarity to our allies working on immigrants’ rights, fair housing, and other crucial issues. Working together to take decisive action now is how we build the future we want for our children and grandchildren.
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