So, now Massachusetts has joined the list of states that aren’t waiting for Congress to turn this country away from greenhouse-gaseous sources of energy. That state has set aggressive limits on emissions and plans to reach those targets by relying on clean energy programs already in place, including components of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) of which Massachusetts is a part.

Only a handful of states, including the environmental trend-setter California, have set forth their own programs to lessen emissions. As reported by The New York Times, the Massachussets plan takes a different approach:

“Unlike California’s plan, however, which sets industry-by-industry regulations to achieve its mandated cutbacks, the Massachusetts plan relies largely on existing programs, like renewable-energy mandates, energy-efficiency standards for building construction and curbs in the electricity sector that are already in place under a multistate agreement known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.”

Massachusetts authorities think they can lower their state’s greenhouse gas emissions by 20-30 percent just with those conservation tactics, and they believe they can cut emissions from their state’s single biggest source—transportation—by another third, utilizing such ideas as providing economic incentives for residents to drive less.