Full Title: Top State Policies To Cut Carbon Emissions
Author(s): Robbie Orvis, Olivia Ashmoore, Rachel Goldstein, Ashna Aggarwal, Nathan Iyer, and Kyle Clark-Sutton
Publisher(s): Energy Innovation and Rocky Mountain Institute
Publication Date: February 5, 2023
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
Many states are already considering new emissions reduction goals or ways to increase ambition. California, Colorado, Minnesota, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, New York, and Washington, among others, have ongoing processes to cut carbon emissions that may be strengthened with the Inflation Reduction Act on the books and new state leadership. However, determining which policies can most effectively meet emissions targets and the tradeoffs between different policies can be challenging.
With the release of state-level Energy Policy Simulators (EPS) for the contiguous 48 states, Energy Innovation Policy & Technology LLC and RMI aim to solve this challenge. The free, open-access EPS can be used to identify the strongest climate policies across states and create a comprehensive policy roadmap for decarbonizing the economy. Despite the differences in state emissions composition, this modeling shows how just five policies across the economy—clean electricity standards; zero-emission vehicle standards; clean building equipment standards; industrial efficiency and emissions standards; and standards for methane detection, capture, and destruction—can dramatically cut state GHG emissions.