Topic: united states

Energy savings certificates (ESCs) are used in some states as a mechanism through which third parties, such as commercial and industrial companies, can help utilities comply with energy efficiency targets. This issue explains ESCs and discusses their role in compliance markets.

This paper describes how social and environmental objectives have been undermined when past U.S. administrations have failed to respect the basic principles of participatory democracy and informed decision-making.

This policy brief presents the competing arguments for state-led and federal-led climate legislation, and argues for a third—“hybrid”—approach that maximizes the strengths of each level of government.

By encouraging clean technology deployment and imposing new costs on commonly traded commodities, climate policy would have significant impacts on international trade flows. This document answers basic questions about climate policy and its implications for the international trade of goods.

As different statewide greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction policies continue to emerge in the United States, more and more businesses are calling on the federal government to enact a single, uniform policy. The prospect of complementary policies between different levels of government—as well as the potential for conflicting and even duplicative regulations—could have significant implications for business. This installment of WRI’s “Bottom Line” series explores the fundamental debates about, and potential outcomes of, different degrees of state and federal policy action.