New Jersey is Extremely Vulnerable to Climate Change:
New Jersey will have to quickly adapt to rising seas and the threats that they pose. According to a Risky Business report, New Jersey is expected to be seriously impacted by increased coastal storm intensity, ranking as the 3rd most susceptible to storm-related damage as a result of global climate change.
The Northeast in general is exceptionally vulnerable to extreme heat, increased rainfall and sea level rise, as these climate signals will impact infrastructure, agriculture and fisheries.
Atlantic City is predicted to experience “once-in- a- century” floods every year or two by 2100.
As recently as Hurricane Sandy, increasingly powerful storms have left parts of New Jersey without fuel and cellphone coverage for extended periods of time, and could continue to threaten these systems in the future.
New Jersey could experience an increase a 900 percent increase in extreme heat days (greater than 95℉) from an average of 5 to 50 per year.
New Jersey’s Clean Energy Efforts and Opinions:
The vast majority of adults in New Jersey, 68 percent, understand that global climate change is occurring, and 52 percent attribute it mostly to anthropogenic causes. 79 percent support funding research for renewable energy resources, and 78 percent support regulating CO2 as a pollutant.
The Clean Power Plan would require New Jersey to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector 23.3 percent by 2030. New Jersey is party to the lawsuit against the EPA and opposes the regulations of the Clean Power Plan. Despite this, New Jerseay is expected to independently decrease CO2 emissions by even more than what the CPP would require.
New Jersey is home to the 10th highest electricity prices in the country, and currently sources most of its power from natural gas, followed closely by nuclear.
Although New Jersey gets a small fraction of its power from renewable energy sources, it is one of only three states that have over 1 GW of installed solar capacity, and has a renewable energy target of 20.38 percent by 2021.
New Jersey has enacted the nation’s first offshore wind renewable energy standard, mandating at least 1,100 megawatts by 2021.