Report: Minnesota on track to meet greenhouse gas reduction goals for first time
MINNEAPOLIS -- Minnesota is on track to meet greenhouse gas reduction goals for the first time, according to February's biennial Greenhouse Gas inventory report from the state's pollution control agency and commerce department.
Minnesota's GHG emissions dropped 23% between 2005 and 2020. If current trends continue, Minnesota is on track to meet its goal of cutting emissions by 30% by 2025.
"We sat down and really looked at how is Minnesota doing in terms of our climate action goals and we weren't achieving them, and this report came out and really showed that we've made some progress over the last several years," said The Nature Conservancy's Ann Mulholland.
The top three GHG emitters in the state are transportation, agriculture and electrical generation. Transportation and electrical generation have made significant cuts to emissions of 18% and 54% respectively. Agriculture, on the other hand, has some work to do.
"There's a real opportunity and a real interest on the part of farmers to really think about their soils as a way of capturing carbon and preventing greenhouse gas emissions," said Mulholland. "And we can do that by planting cover crops - so a second crop to keep those soils covered year round - so that they're sequestering carbon."
About 20% of the change is accounted for by natural climate solutions, which experts say are crucial to the state's overall climate goal.
The Department of Natural Resources says in one year, Minnesota's forests absorbed 19 million tons of carbon dioxide. That's the equivalent of taking 4 million gas powered cars off the road for an entire year.
The Nature Conservancy says reforestation and cover cropping are the two most potent climate solutions in the state. It's about planting more trees which capture carbon, protecting old forests which store it, and managing all of them in a smarter, more resilient way.
"If there was ever a time that forests and forestry was important, it is now," said Eric Schenck, from Minnesota Forest Resources Council.
For example, experts are hard at work figuring out what to do with the deadwood sitting at the bottom of forests, which is also a fire hazard.
Schenck says the wood can be used for renewable diesel or jet fuel, among other things.
If Minnesota doesn't reach climate goals, beloved Northwoods trees like spruce, aspen, and birch could leave the state over the next 80 years, according to experts.