OP-ED: Youth Lobby urges lawmakers, governor to stick with climate promises
April 1, 2025 | By Lucy Badger As a part of the Vermont Youth Lobby, I was one of several Vermont youth who spoke at our Rally Day of Action at the State House on March 13, and at a press conference afterward. Below is a condensed transcript of our remarks from the press conference.
Vermonters need to continue to encourage our lawmakers to hold themselves accountable for the promises they have made to reduce Vermont’s greenhouse gas emissions, which are contributing to the global atmospheric pollution that is having devastating impacts on our communities, state, and planet.
A few years ago, keeping our climate promises was the moral thing to do. After President Trump pulled the United States out of the Paris Agreement in 2017, Governor Scott “remained committed to Vermont’s renewable energy goals of attaining 90 percent of its energy from renewables by 2050.” He said he believed “maintaining this commitment is the right action for the protection of our children, grandchildren and future generations.”
Keeping Vermont on track for our renewable goals was the right thing to do, not only for keeping Vermont accountable for its emissions but leading other states to do the same, creating a greater impact from those committed to a cleaner planet. This is vital to controlling the impact of climate change, as even though the United States has less than 5% of the world's population, it has contributed 20% of the world's total emissions.
Today, Vermont is not on target for meeting these goals. And now, instead of working towards them, Gov. Scott has gone back on his word, calling the targets both “arbitrary deadlines” and too expensive for Vermont to meet. Neither of these claims are true. The deadlines are not arbitrary, but scientists have established for the world to have a chance of staying below the target of 2℃ – a point which will have devastating effects on the planet worldwide.
These deadlines, if the world works together, will reduce emissions and lessen the impact of climate change. This expense, now less than what was originally projected, is not only an investment but a way to avoid the much greater expenses of cleaning up the damage of flooding and the later rebuilding of Vermont homes and businesses.
We are at a crucial point in time. Our president is working to slow any progress at the federal level by mass firings of environmentally conscious organizations such as NOAA, freezing funding, withdrawing the United States from climate agreements, and continuing to drill for oil. We can no longer sit back! Responsibility is quickly shifting to individual states to protect and accelerate our progress in fighting climate change. Working for a better climate is no longer just “morally correct,” it is now an urgent necessity.
Vermont was once supposed to be one of the safest states from the impact of climate change. After the devastating flooding throughout the state for the past two years, we know this isn’t true. After the millions of (federal) dollars spent on flood cleanup and recovery, we know there is a cost to our inaction. This cost isn’t going to stop. It’s just going to stop coming from the federal government and start coming directly from Vermonters, impacting affordability, which ironically
is an important issue to Gov. Scott.
Yes, there are costs to working towards clean energy. But it is an investment in Vermont’s homes and businesses and the futures of Vermont youth. And yes, the cost of doing nothing will continue to pile on and on as climate change worsens and has devastating effects on our communities, our state, and the world.
We can no longer push action down the road. We can no longer rely on the federal government for our future. Our legislators need to act now, vote to keep our climate goals and keep pushing for climate-conscious legislation for Vermont to have a future.
Lucy Badger is a senior from Waitsfield at Harwood Union High School. Watch the ORCA Media recording from the Youth Lobby news conference online here.