Despite making progress, Maine is falling behind in its efforts to hit several major climate goals by its self-imposed deadlines, including electric vehicle adoption, green job creation and land conservation, a new state report finds.

The Maine Climate Council’s annual update, released Monday, doesn’t explicitly say Maine won’t meet its climate goals on time, but the data implies it, and the report cites “massive adoption gaps” and the need for a “significantly accelerated pace.”

For example, the council doesn’t say Maine will miss its 2030 target of 150,000 electric vehicles or plug-in hybrids on the road. However, raw data shows the state is currently at 20,346, or 13.6% of the goal, meaning the deadline will be missed if the adoption rate doesn’t go up dramatically.

The targets were initially set in 2020, though officials have changed some of them. (The EV target was lowered in 2024 and the heat pump goal was increased.)

This week’s report points to “political headwinds” from the federal level as “delaying necessary federal support” as an explanation for why progress in certain high-cost areas, like the buildout of new electric vehicle charging infrastructure, is not keeping pace.

Gov. Janet Mills blamed the Trump administration in a brief speech to the council Monday.

“No matter what happens in D.C., what happens in other countries, Maine won’t wait,” she said, referencing the name of the state climate action plan. “Our future can’t wait. The climate doesn’t know if you’re a red state or blue state or green state or pink state.”

Maine Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Melanie Loyzim urged fellow council members to be patient and celebrate Maine’s climate successes, like a thriving heat pump installation program, despite a lack of federal financial and regulatory support.

“Addressing climate change is a marathon,” Loyzim said. “Even in a year with strong headwinds, we’re still making steady progress and remain committed to protecting the Maine that we love.”

The state has cut greenhouse gas emissions to 30% below what they were in 1990, with targets of reaching a 45% reduction by 2030, and an 80% cut by 2050. Transportation remains the state’s largest emissions sector and is proving to be one of Maine’s biggest challenges, according to the report.

The goal of 30,000 green energy jobs is barely halfway complete, indicating slow growth in the sector intended to replace fossil fuels.

Although 22.5% of Maine’s land is conserved, the state still needs to find the funds, and support, to protect hundreds of thousands of acres more to hit the 30% target by 2030, which is especially difficult given that some rural communities don’t want to see land taken off the tax rolls.

Maine Won't Wait 2025 Annual Report by Maine Trust For Local News

The report concludes that while Maine is 91% of the way to being carbon neutral, achieving the final 9% will depend not just on continued heat pump installation but on overcoming the massive adoption gaps in EVs and the expansion of the green workforce.

The council highlighted the importance of local climate action — a community garden in Van Buren built in a flood zone, the creation of a battery loan program in Alna or a dock elevation project in Kennebunkport — in the wake of federal withdrawal.

The report, which updates the state’s climate action plan, Maine Won’t Wait, also highlights a record $60 million investment in community resilience and infrastructure repairs following a series of brutal winter storms in 2023-24 that caused over $90 million in damage.