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States have taken a leadership role in curbing climate change in recent years. Actions include developing comprehensive climate legislation, establishing and improving renewable electricity standards, the creation of state and regional greenhouse gas reduction markets and higher fuel efficiency standards. These state actions have made important emission reductions and also help lay the groundwork for federal action.

Renewable Electricity Standards

29 states and the District of Columbia have mandatory Renewable Electricity Standards (RES), which require a percentage of the state's electricity to be generated from eligible renewable sources by a certain time. RES targets vary from state-to-state, as does the definition of "renewable energy." Some states give differential support to specific technologies to encourage growth in the industry. New Jersey, for example, requires 2% of its RES to be delivered by solar photo voltaics.

Regional Greenhouse Gas Reduction Markets

Across the country, state governments have joined forces to curb climate change through regional cap-and-trade initiatives. These partnerships provide greater predicability for businesses and prevent "leakage," or incentive for businesses to shift to unregulated neighboring states.

Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative: RGGI includes seven Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states. RGGI will stablize carbon emissions from power plants in the region at 2005 levels from 2009 through 2014, followed by a 10% reduction by 2019. Agreed to in December 2005, implementation of the cap-and-trade program began in January 2009.
Western Climate Initiative: WCI now includes seven western states and four Canadian provinces that have jointly set a regional GHG emission target of 15% below 2005 levels by 2020. Agreed to in February 2007, the cap-and-trade program will begin in 2012.
Midwestern Greenhouse Gas Reduction Accord: MGGRA includes six mid-western states and the Canadian province of Manitoba. Members have agreed to establish a long-term GHG target of 60 to 80 percent below current emission levels. The MGGRA cap-and-trade system is expected to be finalized by 2009 and begin implementation by 2010.

Motor Vehicle Emission Reductions

In March 2008, the Bush administration denied California's request for a waiver to pre-empt federal regulations on motor vehicle emissions in order to enact stricter fuel efficiency requirements. On January 26, 2009 President Obama directed the EPA to reaccess the finding. Sixteen states intend to follow California's model if the waiver is approved.

Climate Action Plans & Targets

36 states have completed comprehensive climate action plans or are in the process of developing one, and 21 states have adopted statewide emission reduction targets. The targets vary by ambition and timeline, ranging from Vermont's target of 25% below 1990 levels by 2012 to Utah's target of 2005 levels by 2020.

Energy Efficiency

Energy Efficiency Provisions in the American Clean Energy and Security Act (Environment Northeast, August 2009)
ENE created summaries describing estimated ACES funding for energy efficiency investments for each state based on Congressional Budget Office (CBO) allowance price projections for 2012-2019 and allocation percentages in the House bill.

Related Resources

Report: Exposing Energy Security: Keystone XL Exposed

Briefing targets claims made by major industry that the Keystone pipeline is necessary to ensure America’s energy security and will work to reduce the country’s dependence on foreign oil, scrutinizing the global oil market and the oil companies that stand to profit from the pipeline.

Report: Climate Risk Disclosure by Insurers

Report examines public disclosure filings from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) to assess US insurer consideration of climate change as a key risk factor to their business and how that consideration affects their decision making. Based on the NAIC responses, Ceres’ analysis found that there does exist a “broad consensus among insurers that climate change will have an effect on extreme weather events, [but] only 11 insurers reported having formal climate change policies, and more than 60 percent of the respondents reported having no dedicated management approach for assessing climate risk.”

Poll: Coloradans Blame Oil Companies for High Gas Prices

An August 2011 poll conducted by Keating research and commissioned by the Checks and Balances Project found a large majority of Colorado residents in favor of a reduction in oil price speculation and market manipulation to lower gas prices. Based on 603 interviews with Colorado voters, the survey found seven out of ten respondents “favor diversification of the sources of energy by creating a national renewable electricity standard that requires 20 percent of electricity” to come from renewable sources.

Poll: NY State Voters Back Fracking Despite Concerns

The results of a poll by Quinnipiac University indicate that, by a 47 – 42 percent margin, New York voters support the economic benefits of drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale more than they fear the possible environmental impacts of the fracking. The independent poll also found that respondents believe 75 – 17 percent that “natural gas drilling will create jobs…with strong support among all groups and in all regions of the state.”