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State-Level Planning for Decarbonization: Critical Elements of Effective State Action

State-Level Planning for Decarbonization: Critical Elements of Effective State Action

Full Title: State-Level Planning for Decarbonization: Critical Elements of Effective State Action
Author(s): Maya Domeshek, Thomas Bowen, Chrissie Ivanova, Karen Palmer, and Bill Shobe
Publisher(s): Resources for the Future
Publication Date: September 22, 2022
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):

Three important institutional issues arise when pursuing subnational climate policy: coordination, authority, and expertise. Coordination among a large number of states (and other jurisdictions) is challenging even when the costs and benefits of acting are confined to the jurisdictions involved. For decarbonization, with costs and benefits shared both among and beyond the acting states, the transaction costs of coordination can be expected to rise rapidly. Such problems exist within states as well, as effective decarbonization policies require actions across traditionally independent lines of agency authority. The difficulty of inducing
cooperation across agency lines of authority presents a substantial friction that can slow the drive to decarbonization. Add to this the important role of regional Independent System Operators (ISOs) and other nonstate actors, and the coordination problems for state-level action can appear daunting indeed.

The federal structure of authority in the US limits the range of state action. US states, as with subnational jurisdictions everywhere, have limited authority, especially in addressing problems that cross state lines, and they are also limited in the ways in which they can cooperate. Finally, large economies of scale exist in developing the expertise and institutional capacity needed to address the challenge of global warming. Once again, coordinating investments in new knowledge and expertise among the states would probably yield large gains, but allocating costs and benefits across jurisdictions poses significant challenges. 

All statements and/or propositions in discussion prompts are meant exclusively to stimulate discussion and do not represent the views of OurEnergyPolicy.org, its Partners, Topic Directors or Experts, nor of any individual or organization. Comments by and opinions of Expert participants are their own.

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