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
13 Enhancing and Realizing the Climate Ambitions and Capacities of Subnational Actors: State and Local Government Perspectives
Pages 679-722
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To understand the roles of subnational governments, this chapter ex plores the current landscape of state and local decarbonization policies, the influences of American federalism, the polarization of climate change as a political issue, and the challenges of uneven national leadership. The chapter then explores how robust, locally relevant, and more flexible federal funding for intergovernmental coordina tion with subnational agencies with climate-related responsibilities could help lead to more effective decarbonization solutions.
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minority-serving institutions KEY PLAYERS Community- and faith-based groups Community colleges Environmental, clean energy, K-12 schools Think tanks climate non-profits Philanthropies Install and demonstrate net-zero technologies For-profit, non-profit, and Neighborhood associations governmental consultancies in state-owned facilities, land, and fleets laboratories and technology Citizens and residents Install and manufacture net-zero Power state operations with clean energy incubators Cooperatively technologies owned utilities Develop climate, clean energy, energy Construct buildings and infrastructure Investor-owned utilities SECTOR Governors Legislators security, and resilience plans Research/ Civil Represent industry and business interests Clean tech businesses Energy and Low-income Support clean energy workforce development Academia Society Installers, builders, contractors resilience offices housing, energy Source and purchase clean energy assistance agencies Regulate investor-owned utilities Manufacturers Investor-owned Host and demonstrate net-zero State and utility regulators Workforce Invest in electric vehicle charging corridors technologies Industry associations Business agencies and boards and clean transportation/transit infrastructure Non-Federal Territory Departments of and business councils Actors in U.S. Government transportation Agricultural producers Decarbonization Provide funding, incentives, and low-cost Permitting, siting, land-use financing for energy efficiency agencies and commissions Labor Local/Municipal Adopt and enforce building energy codes Government Mayors and county executives Workforce training and Sustainability and resilience offices certification providers Tribal*
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The diversity and range of climate actions adopted by subnational entities have been key in fostering policy, innovation, and experimentation; driving federal action; and delivering near-term emissions reductions. Policy experimentation at the subnational level often creates the potential for best ideas and practices to spread to other states and localities (horizontal diffusion)
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. Subnational leadership in climate action is particularly important in that it can lower the barriers and costs for other state and local governments to follow (Peng 2021)
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4) note, despite pockets of advancement and innovation, more consistent and stringent policy coverage is necessary to meet climate mitigation objectives, "necessitating efforts to reduce obstacles to more robust state climate policy activity." Deep decarbonization will remain incomplete so long as subnational actors in any part of the country refuse or struggle to imple ment and engage their policy makers, regulators, business communities, and public in the complex and difficult tasks of transitioning the U.S.
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Now, TCI's Northeast Electric Vehicle Network is partnered with more than 100 companies, organizations, and jurisdictions to support electric vehicle use. The REV-West Initiative and the Southeast REVI is under the National Asso ciation of State Energy Officials (NASEO)
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In an attempt to validate targets, the Science Based Targets initiative (STBi) was developed to create methods and criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of corporate climate action; only targets that meet strict criteria are approved (WRI 2023)
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Last, the chapter concludes with an outlook on how decarbonization policy may continue to play out at the subnational level and among federal, state, and local government actors. Table 13-1, at the end of the chapter, sum marizes all the recommendations that appear in this chapter to support subnational actors in policy implementation and advancing decarbonization objectives.
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In the uncooperative or conflict model of federalism, relations between the federal and subnational governments are characterized by resistance or direct opposition. In some cases, states and localities initiate new ideas that the federal government is not yet ready to embrace.
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State Energy Program created by the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 (P.L.
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notes that in addition to the strength of oil and gas interests in sowing doubt and misinforma tion about climate science, two additional factors became critical in blocking strong climate policy: opposition among small government conservatives and libertarians to regulation, and the potential loss of American prosperity and competitiveness, par ticularly in relation to emerging economies. "The fear that strong climate action might reduce American competitiveness with rising giants like China is undoubtedly one of the strongest reasons why the Senate refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol in 1997" (Collomb 2014, p.
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. The framing of the issue as an economic and energy security opportunity rather than as an environmental imperative provided openings for subnational governments on both sides of the political aisle to pursue decarbonization actions, although the most ambitious policy activity at the time tended to be concentrated in regions with Demo cratic governors and mayors, including the Northeast, Pacific West, and Southwest.
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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. While dozens of California cities have moved to ban gas and propane hookups in new construction, 19 other states, collectively representing nearly one-third of residential and commercial natural gas consumption in the United States, have passed legislation preventing localities from doing so (Gleason 2022)
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Simultaneously, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and California Governor Jerry Brown launched the America's Pledge initiative to aggregate and quantify the actions by these subnational actors to drive down GHG emissions (We Are Still In n.d.)
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. Similarly, states and regions with poor energy efficiency policies are not only falling behind in helping their industry and businesses capitalize on revenue and produc tivity gains (Global Alliance for Energy Productivity 2016)
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Leading Up to the IIJA and IRA, Subnational Action Falling Short of Decarbonization Goals Important as they may be for seizing economic development and job creation op portunities, subnational climate ambition and policies remain insufficient and are nowhere near the scale and pace of emissions reduction required across the entire country. An analysis conducted by the Environmental Defense Fund using historical and projected emissions data from Rhodium Group found that even among states that have committed to economy-wide GHG emissions reduction of 26 to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025 (in line with the U.S.
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. Even in states and communities with strong climate ambitions, opposition to projects stems from multiple sources: health and safety concerns, institutional and procedural complexities in siting, and fear over diminishing the value (monetary, aesthetic, recreational, and emotional)
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Paul, St. Louis FIGURE 13-2 Map of 100 percent clean energy states with clean city scorecard cities.
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. Acknowledging the mounting challenges of the global climate crisis, the Biden administration has prioritized progress on climate change more than any previous administration and has also committed to support ambitious climate action by subnational governments (Hale and Hultman 2020)
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Most policy areas for addressing the climate crisis could be served by coordination and constructive partnership among federal, state, and local governments. Given the varying capacity and willingness of subnational actors to tackle climate issues, it will be important for the federal government, with its significantly larger financial and technical resources, to look for opportunities to enhance and drive additional sub national climate action and to develop custom-tailored messaging and resources to include more states and localities.
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This section will explore these factors, with a particular eye on the investments and coordination that will be needed at both the subnational and 8 Using modeling, Energy Innovation has identified the most impactful policy strategies for states to achieve deep emissions reductions across key sectors: "renewable portfolio standards, and feed-in tariffs; complementary power sector policies, such as utility business model reform; vehicle performance standards; vehicle fuel fees and feebates; electric vehicle policies; urban mobility policies, such as parking restrictions and increased funding for alternative transit modes; building codes and appliance standards; industrial energy efficiency standards; industrial process emission policies; carbon pricing; and [research and develop ment] policies" (Harvey et al.
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On the other hand, it can make policy coordination and durability more difficult, as nodes of expertise can be disintegrated from one administration to the next. Recognizing this dynamic, both the Biden administration at the federal level and some subnational governments have espoused a "whole-of-government" approach to climate change, exemplified by such decisions as the adminis tration of Massachusetts Governor Healey's appointment of a cabinet-level Climate Chief tasked with coordinating climate policy across all state agencies and in partnership with local communities11 (Healey and Driscoll 2023)
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. 12 The National Renewable Energy Laboratory's "policy-stacking" framework illustrates the complexity and level of expertise needed to navigate effective climate policy at the subnational level.
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contend that a cornerstone of state governmental capacity to advance climate policy lies in the ability to mobilize or demobilize interest groups in pursuit of goals, with this ability being especially useful when there are constructive partnerships between the legislative and execu tive branch. In California's signature 2006 climate policy act, AB 32 Global Warming Solutions Act, the legislature succeeded in limiting the influence of special interest groups by establishing overall emissions targets in statute but delegating contentious policy decisions to an independent regulatory agency, the California Air Resources Board.
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However, questions remain as to how to enable state and local government institutions to attain these rewards, particularly in jurisdictions that may lack the history, institutional capacity, and political consensus to navigate the complexities of decarbonization. The following section explores whether and how subnational governments can leverage the IIJA and IRA provisions strategically to build their capacity to advance decarbonization policy.
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From page 704... ...
among DOE, DOT, the National Association of State Energy Officials, and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials to ensure the "strategic, coordinated, efficient, and equitable" investment of electric vehicle charging infrastructure. The MOU identifies activities that will support this coordination, including convenings of national, state, local, tribal, and private-sector actors; the elevation of data, techni cal, and program assistance needs of states to federal agencies; and communications channels.
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State Energy Program (SEP) funds, helps illustrate this dynamic.
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State Energy Program in 2023 -- more than a year after the passage of IIJA -- and, as of the writing of this report, has not released any of the $550 million (effectively $430 million after DOE overhead and technical assistance cuts) in Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants authorized for states and localities (DOE 2023b)
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More systematic coordination can also help federal agencies understand the vari ous ways states and localities are applying federal decarbonization resources on the ground to achieve their unique priorities and goals -- whether climate-driven or not -- and advance streamlined and equitable processes, particularly for under-resourced civil and public entities. Finding 13-5: The IIJA and IRA provide federal agencies with an imperative to en gage subnational governments and to ensure that federal technical assistance and application processes meet state, county, and local needs.
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. The more recent IRA contains an estimated $370 billion in provisions for energy security and climate change, including support for domestic clean energy manufacturing, resi dential energy efficiency, and electrification rebates, affordable housing grants, environ mental and climate justice block grants, and a slew of tax credits expected to ramp up investments in energy efficiency, renewable energy, geothermal, carbon capture and sequestration, and other emissions reductions efforts (see Chapter 6)
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. As Chapter 7 highlights, states that do not have robust networks in place to ensure that low-income communities can take advantage of investments in energy efficiency upgrades and other clean energy technologies may fall short of meeting key equity goals in these laws.
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As noted previously, there is high variability and inconsistency in subnational climate policy governance. While some states and localities with longer histories of climate, clean energy, and energy efficiency policy leadership may be sufficiently staffed, ad equately resourced, and have suitable policies and regulations in place to pursue IIJA and IRA funding, most will likely need to build this capacity and fill gaps as swiftly as possible.
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However, when spread across hundreds of state and local jurisdictions and other community-based recipients (not to men tion federal agencies' share for administration and technical assistance) , it is logical to question whether they will be adequate in positioning subnational actors to make the most of the opportunity, including integrating and braiding disparate funding streams across different types of agencies (environmental, energy, regulatory, etc.)
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A handful of key programs -- the U.S. State Energy Pro gram, the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program, the Environ mental and Climate Justice Block Grants, and the non-competitive planning stage of EPA's Climate Pollution Reduction Grants -- provide sufficiently flexible funding for state and local planning and capacity building.
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Recommendation 13-5: Continue to Expand Reliable and Flexible Funding to Subnational Governments. Recognizing the central role that subnational actors will play in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA)
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The implementation of the IIJA and IRA holds promise as a means of catalyzing significant financial investment in clean energy, energy efficiency, and climate solu tions across the United States. While states and localities with sufficient budgets, sophisticated staff, and experience in climate policy and regulatory experimenta tion may be well positioned to tap into the IIJA and IRA's significant benefits, many others may lack the capacity to navigate these laws and maximize their impact in the context of state and local goals and priorities.
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Objective(s) Categories Short-Form Implementing Addressed by Addressed by Addressed by Recommendation Recommendation Recommendation Recommendation Recommendation 13-1: Establish an Executive Office of • Non-federal • Equity Building the Ongoing Process to the President actors • Public Needed Workforce Integrate Feedback engagement and Capacity into Federal Application and Technical Assistance Processes 13-2: Disburse Department • Non-federal Building the Capacity- of Energy, actors Needed Workforce Building Funds Environmental and Capacity for State, Local, Protection Agency, and Community Department of Recipients Flexibly Transportation, and Speedily Department of Agriculture, and other federal agencies 13-3: Designate Governors, • Electricity • Equity Building the an Official or mayors, and • Buildings • Public Needed Workforce Entity to Track county officials; • Transportation engagement and Capacity Decarbonization states, counties, • Industry Program and cities • Non-federal Opportunities and actors Deadlines 13-4: Structure Federal agencies • Electricity • Equity Building the Competitive • Buildings Needed Workforce Opportunities as • Transportation and Capacity Non-Competitive • Industry Planning Grants • Non-federal Followed by actors Competitive Grants 715 A00026 -- Accelerating Decarbonization in the United States_CH13.indd 715 3/27/24 7:26 AM
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2022. How States Can Use the Bipar tisan Infrastructure Law to Enhance Their Climate Action Efforts.
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2022b. "State Energy Program IIJA Formula Grant Allocations." https://www.energy.gov/scep/articles/ state-energy-program-iija-formula-grant-allocations.
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Climate Policy." Wilson Center Insight and Analysis, June 23. https:// www.wilsoncenter.org/article/state-governmental-leadership-us-climate-policy.
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2023. "Tracking Progress: Climate Action Under the Biden Administration." World Resources Institute Insights, January 23.
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2022. "Modeling the Inflation Reduction Act Using the Energy Policy Simulator." Energy Innovation Policy and Technology.
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2011. "Contested Federalism and American Climate Policy." Publius: The Journal of Federalism 41(3)
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2021. "What Is the Clean Power Plan?
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