State Approaches to Climate Policy: Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey

States have long been at the forefront of designing and implementing climate and energy policy, experimenting with new policies, refining existing programs, and expanding successful approaches into new states and sectors. While many states recognize that climate change is a global concern, in the absence of federal action, state- and- regional-level approaches continue to drive emission reductions in states and regions.

This issue brief focuses on three states—Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey—that have long been active in the pursuit of decarbonization strategies. Each employed somewhat different vehicles to establish initial goals that require varying levels of agency action, but all three are consistently taking additional steps in recent years to achieve significant greenhouse gas reductions. Other states may also look to adopt such approaches for their own sectors. This issue brief provides an overview of the climate policy that has evolved in these three states related to the electric sector.