Governor Dannel Malloy spoke to the importance of clean energy during his State of the State Address on Feb. 7. See below. CCAT drives regional strategies for sustainable, reliable and renewable energy applications. Through CCAT’s leadership with advanced technology, including the hydrogen fuel cell industry, CT and the region have witnessed an increase in advanced technology patents, revenues, and job growth. This growth proves that clean energy technology can meet objectives for environmental quality, energy reliability, economic development, and job creation.
“Connecticut Fairness also means that as we worry about the health of our residents, we also need to worry about the health of their environment.
The science is indisputable. Our climate is changing – temperatures continue to rise, the ice caps continue to melt, and our weather is more severe than at any time in modern history.
In 2008, Connecticut set ambitious goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2020, and to the credit of many people in this chamber, we hit that goal eight years early.
In recent years, we’ve diversified the kinds of energy we use, bringing in more than a billion dollars in new investments in fuel cells and other green energy and creating 13,000 new jobs along the way.
But we have to do more, because Connecticut Fairness means caring not just about our own immediate interests, but also about the interests of future generations. And the truth is, future generations face an undeniable threat: sea levels in Connecticut are now set to rise nearly two feet by the year 2050.
To help communities up and down our beautiful shoreline, we need to create a new comprehensive resiliency plan – one that gives Connecticut towns the tools and the resources they need to protect their residents.
And we can’t stop there. We have to lower carbon emissions everywhere. We have to once again make Connecticut a national leader in green energy.
Together, let’s create a new, more aggressive target for clean air. Let’s mandate that by the year 2030, 75 percent of Connecticut energy is clean energy.”