Climate efforts could create two kinds of green

A climate strategist hired to help Minnesota meet its aggressive greenhouse-gas reduction targets says reaching the goals might save the state’s economy billions of dollars.

Thomas Peterson, executive director of the Center for Climate Strategies, is a coordinator for a statewide stakeholders group working on recommendations for reducing emissions. The Minnesota Climate Change Advisory Group is expected to present its work to legislators next month.

Speaking at a joint legislative committee meeting Friday, Peterson discouraged lawmakers from dwelling too much on the upfront costs of implementing the ideas.

“The reality is that a great many of these actions have the potential, it appears, to save money,” Peterson said.The current slate of recommendations, which is not final and will depend on legislative approval, could result in a net savings of about $9 billion by 2025, Peterson said. He later downplayed the figure as very rough and likely to change frequently as the recommendations are refined in the coming weeks.

It’s also not known who would pay the upfront costs of implementing the changes and who would benefit from the savings. Rep. Bill Hilty, DFL-Finlayson, pointed out that the societal savings cited by the strategists’ research isn’t likely to be the most debated figure.

“The focus is inevitably going to be on the costs to the state (government), or other interests,” Hilty said.

Last year, Minnesota pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050.