Helping States Lead the Way
As states take on a growing role in US environmental policy , Resources for the Future (RFF) has been working with legislators to evaluate critical climate and energy policy options.
Working with State Legislators to Evaluate Climate and Energy Policy
With federal climate and energy policy increasingly uncertain, states are determining many of the country’s most important environmental and natural resource decisions. We know that the choices being made in state capitols today—on permitting, emissions targets, and wildfire and extreme-weather risks—will shape outcomes both well into the future and beyond their own borders.
And as states take on this responsibility, Resources for the Future (RFF) has been working with legislators—for example in California—to evaluate critical climate and energy policy options using the same rigorous approach we bring to our work with federal decisionmakers.
This year, we released new research showing how targeted refinements to California’s cap-and-trade program could improve its cost-effectiveness and market performance. By examining design elements like allowance supply, price-stability tools, and long-term emissions pathways, our research identified which policy levers could have the most impact on emissions outcomes and compliance costs.
We continued our work in the Golden State with new analysis on wildfire resilience. Using spatial modeling of costs and expected risk-reduction benefits, our research clarified the tradeoffs among major fuel-reduction strategies and will help decisionmakers understand which actions and investments could have the greatest impact in reducing wildfire risk.
Our work also goes beyond California. For example, our experts have looked closely at how states like New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Texas manage their oil and gas revenues and identified opportunities to strengthen the long-term health of their economies and communities.
With federal action uncertain and slowing, states are increasingly searching for and relying on evidence-based research to guide their climate and energy decisionmaking.
Thanks to the support we receive from friends like you, RFF is producing the rigorous, independent research that policymakers rely on—and ensuring they have access to it when it’s needed most.
As we prepare to wrap up the year and look ahead to 2026, we hope you will consider renewing your support for RFF. The demand for RFF’s objective, rigorous research has never been greater, and your generosity ensures that leaders at every level of government have the objective evidence they need to make informed climate and energy decisions. Will you join us?