Accelerating Decarbonization in the United States Technology, Policy, and Societal Dimensions (2024) / Chapter Skim
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13 Enhancing and Realizing the Climate Ambitions and Capacities of Subnational Actors: State and Local Government Perspectives ABSTRACT Subnational governments -- state, county, and local entities -- and other non-federal actors play important roles in actions to decarbonize the U.S. economy.
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This chapter will focus specifically on the roles and capacities of state and local governments that exist and operate in relation to the federal government and the other non-federal stakeholders listed above. While state and local governments do not represent the full subnational ecosystem of climate and clean energy players in the United States, this chapter focuses on them because their roles are foundational and essential to the achievement of the IIJA, the IRA, and net-zero goals.
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FIGURE 13-1 Actors in the subnational ecosystem. Recent federal laws represent the boldest action Congress has taken to address climate change -- putting the United States on a possible path to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent below 2005 level by 2030.
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explores, the current landscape of climate policies and subnational capacity for decarbonization may be insufficient without federal-subnational coordination, accelerated investments in capacity-building initiatives at the subnational level, and efforts to soften some states' and communities' resistance to climate action by emphasizing the economic, job creation, security, and resilience opportunities that can come from clean energy and climate investments. In addition to federal action and subnational implementation, private sector actors are also playing a meaningful role.
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in partnership with a variety of nonprofit organizations aims to achieve a billion tons of GHG emissions reductions from Walmart's supply chain by 2030 by targeting energy use, nature, waste, packaging, transportation, and product use and design (https://www.walmartsustainabilityhub.com/climate/project-gigaton)
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4. Monitoring and reporting emissions is crucial for companies to accurately assess progress toward pledged goals.
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governments full capacity to govern affairs within their territorial jurisdiction, subject to state law limitations) (Richardon et al.
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Importantly, early U.S. climate policy was not marked by the political divisiveness and polarization that characterizes decarbonization efforts today (Worland 2017)
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and Southwest. Congressional gridlock and federal inaction in this era provided what Rabe describes as "enormous latitude to states to do nothing, pursue a few symbolic steps, enact one or two significant policies, or pursue a far-reaching approach that might position them for regional and national leadership and even global visibility" (Rabe 2011, p.
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(Jaffe 2018) entrenched climate policy activity further in certain states, cities, and regions; emboldened yet others to use their unique subnational authorities to exert pressure in the opposite direction; and left many in between incapacitated to act meaningfully on decarbonization ambitions.
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public services and local economies continue to rely heavily on revenue and royalties from its production, transportation, processing, and consumption (Raimi et al.
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Modeling by Energy Innovation reveals that California's policy commitments, as of 2022, would produce statewide emissions nearly 20 percent above its 2030 target (Busch et al.
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and 100 percent of its electricity from renewable energy by 2030 and 2045, respectively. Meanwhile, Ohio -- one of the top emitters of carbon dioxide from its power sector -- requires that 8.5 percent of electricity sold by the state's utilities to be from renewable energy by 2026 (California Energy Commission 2023)
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By changing the fundamental economics of many aspects of the U.S. energy system -- notably the power sector -- the IRA and the IIJA hold the potential to help subnational entities enhance and realize their existing climate goals or, if they have not done so already, begin to take on decarbonization goals and policies.
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most compelling reasoning may not have to do with climate or environmental factors at all, but rather economic, resilience, and energy security motivations. Otherwise, it is unlikely that the United States will achieve its net-zero goals at the scale and urgency needed to address the climate crisis.
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implementation (Park et al.
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informational and technical assistance resources, and strategic partnerships with trusted non governmental partners, such as universities, thinktanks, and others who can provide analytical assistance to governmental entities. • Cushioning from Special or Conflicting Interests: Special interests can pose a significant impediment to climate receptivity and policies (see Chapter 12)
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EXPANDING AND ENHANCING SUBNATIONAL ACTION Maintaining Policy Coherence by Mainstreaming Net-Zero Goals in Subnational Policy When presented or perceived as a climate issue, decarbonization may fail to garner sufficient public support and policy attention; yet, when it is tied to immediate and tangible benefits important to local populations, electorates, and economies, the prospects may improve (Li et al. 2023; Tyson et al.
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Additionally, the Solar Energy Technologies Office has established a States Collaborative as part of its National Community Solar Partnership as a peer exchange space for states interested in accelerating community solar development (DOE n.d.)
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pursue clean energy funding opportunities competitively. 13 That is, if they choose to do so at all -- without 215F the support of planning and capacity-building funds, transparency into federal technical assistance, jurisdictions may be deterred from pursuing funds altogether, which may hit rural, disadvantaged, or lower-income communities hardest, as noted in Chapter 2.
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funding authorization) to disburse funds to support state, local, and community clean energy and climate planning and capacity building.
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guidance for IIJA §40101(d) "Preventing Outages and Enhancing the Resilience of the Electric Grid" provides $459 million annually over 5 years to state and tribal governments to improve the resilience of the electric grid.
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Table J-1 in Appendix J highlights key provisions from IIJA and IRA that engage and implicate state and local governments. Many of these funding opportunities are competitive and opening simultaneously, and therefore will require significant time and attention from applicants even though funding is not guaranteed.
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that some states and local governments will secure a first-mover advantage in the competition for funding and that others lacking the capacity to apply for these funding programs may lag. A handful of key programs– the U.S.
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decarbonized economy -- not just in traditionally climate-leading states and cities, but more broadly to include actors with the will, interest, and motivation to decarbonize but who may lack the capacity or support to do so. The implementation of the IIJA and the IRA holds promise as a means of catalyzing significant financial investment in clean energy, energy efficiency, and climate solutions across the United States.
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Actor(s) Responsible for Sector(s)
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Federal, State, and Local Roles in a U.S. Policy to Achieve Decarbonization.
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DOE (United States Department of Energy)
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EPA (United States Environmental Protection Agency)
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Official, Protests From Climate Activists." The Salt Lake Tribune, May 30. [Online]
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https://www.maine.gov/governor/mills/news/climate-week-governor-mills-celebrates-maines progress-toward-installing-100000-heat-pumps.
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Insights, May 6. [Online]
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Wei, T., J
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