Designing the Next Generation of Federal Tax Credits for Low-Carbon Technologies

Achieving emissions reductions to reach economy-wide net-zero emissions by 2050 will require sustained technological innovations and widespread deployment of emerging low-carbon technologies that are not yet commercially deployed on a mass-market scale. Tax credits are an important policy tool for supporting the early-stage deployment of emerging technologies as well as more mature technologies that have not yet reached widespread deployment. While existing federal tax credits have played an important role in enabling the deployment of several low-carbon technologies, including wind, solar, and electric vehicles, they also suffer from critical design deficiencies that make them less effective.

This paper proposes six …

Building Decarbonization Roadmap

The buildings sector represents about 40% of global carbon dioxide emissions and a similar portion of U.S. emissions. This substantial impact necessitates attention and action, and it also brings with it a wide array of opportunities for decarbonization policy.

The Roadmap was produced for the U.S. Climate Alliance by RMI through collaboration with staff from various state offices as well as industry experts. It is not meant to represent a policy plan for the Alliance or any Alliance states, but it is rather a tool designed to summarize the highest-impact actions that states can take to decarbonize buildings. …

Advanced Energy Now 2021 Market Report: Global and U.S. Market Revenue 2011-20 and Key Trends in Advanced Energy Growth

The Advanced Energy Now 2020 Market Report is Advanced Energy Economy’s seventh report of market size, by revenue, of the advanced energy industry, worldwide and in the United States. As defined by AEE – a national association of businesses making the energy we use secure, clean, and affordable – advanced energy is a broad range of technologies, products, and services that constitute the best available
technologies for meeting energy needs today and tomorrow. Defined in this way, advanced
energy is not static but dynamic, as innovation and competition produce better energy
technologies, products, and services over time.

Today, plug-in electric …

Green Steel Production: How G7 Countries can Help Change the Global Landscape

From bridges to buildings, cars to kitchenware, steel plays an important role in our daily lives. Steelmaking is highly emission-intensive and the nearly 2 billion tonnes of steel produced every year generate around 8% of global CO2 emissions. But current process technologies are not in sync with the Paris Agreement’s commitments and objectives. Process emissions must fall by at least 30% by 2030 to bring the sector in line with a 2050 net-zero trajectory. This brief examines the concept of green steel production and discusses what the G7 can do to help decarbonize the steel sector.…

Hard-to-Abate Sectors and Emissions: The Toughest Nuts to Crack for a Net Zero Future

The COVID-19 pandemic has been noteworthy for so many negative things, but there was one temporary bright spot — global carbon emissions declined. With the sudden halt in industrial production and transportation coming to a standstill, cities saw noticeable declines in air pollution and the atmosphere benefitted from a decline in greenhouse gas emissions. Although these benefits were temporary and reversed once economic activity started to ramp up, it was encouraging to see that declines in emissions can actually happen.

Obviously shutting down major sectors of the economy for periods of time isn’t the long-term answer to reducing emissions. But …

Renewable Energy Policies for Cities: Power Sector

The energy transition in cities promises to transform the urban environment, with impacts that extend well beyond the energy sector. It will shape transport, buildings, land use and a host of other sectors.

Even within the energy sector, the adoption of renewable energy involves more than a shift in energy sources; it also includes an emphasis on greater energy efficiency and modified consumption patterns, all of which could remake cities in ways that benefit their inhabitants and our planet alike.

Renewable Energy Policies for Cities: Power Sector is intended to help policy makers accelerate efforts to create sustainable cities powered …

Washington State’s Climate Commitment Act: A model for ambitious climate policy

On May 17, 2021, Governor Inslee signed the Climate Commitment Act, a bold cap-and-invest bill, into law. This legislation solidifies Washington state as a national climate leader with the most ambitious limit on emissions of any state in the nation. Washington is the second state, behind California, to place a binding, declining emissions limit across all major sectors of its economy and translate its climate goals into a policy framework designed to fully deliver.

The Climate Commitment Act sets a new gold standard for climate policy because it slashes greenhouse gas emissions at the pace and scale necessary to meet …

Climate Mayors Green and Equitable Recovery

The United States faces a once-in-a-generation opportunity to address the challenges of rebuilding economies, promoting racial justice, and reducing emissions while building for a more resilient, sustainable future. But it will take careful policy and planning to make this a reality. This Climate Mayors report, co-authored by RMI, lays out proven solutions for a green and just economic recovery in cities across the United States, while highlighting examples of local success.

Climate Mayors Green and Equitable Recovery presents key policy priorities in the mobility, buildings, and electricity sectors, as well as exploring nature-based solutions. This includes success stories from cities …

Colorado Energy Policy Simulator Insights: Current Emissions Trajectory, 1.5°C Scenario

Research using the Colorado Energy Policy Simulator developed by Energy Innovation and RMI evaluates the state’s current climate policies, finding the state will fall short of its greenhouse gas reduction goals with emissions likely to decrease just 18 percent by 2050 unless additional policies accelerate Colorado’s clean energy transition. Implementing additional policies across the transportation, buildings, industrial, land, and agricultural sectors would put Colorado on the IPCC’s recommended pathway to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. By 2050, the policies in this package would reduce emissions more than 95 percent, create more than 36,000 job-years, and add $7.5 billion to …

Building Electrification: Steps to start now amid an uncertain future

Fossil fuel combustion attributed to residential and commercial buildings accounts for 15% to 25% of economy-level greenhouse gas emissions—which means that building electrification will play a strong role in creating a clean energy future. But there is no one-size-fits-all way to electrify buildings. Geography, climate, existing building stock, technology innovation, and governmental preferences have created a complex decision matrix for utilities to navigate.

How can you manage the considerable uncertainty about building electrification cost and feasibility? What can you do now to decarbonize through building electrification with such an unsure future?

In this paper, industry experts Val Jensen and Duncan …