Molly Robertson
Associate Fellow
Molly Robertson is an associate fellow at RFF working on topics related to the electric power sector, including grid decarbonization, electrification, and electricity market design. She has also contributed to RFF’s growing work on equitable community transition and environmental justice. She holds a master’s in public policy from the University of Michigan’s Ford School.
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Report — Apr 18, 2025
Charging Up: The State of Utility-Scale Electricity Storage in the United States
This report explores how economic forces, public policy, and market design have shaped the development of stand-alone grid-scale storage in the United States.
Common Resources — Mar 24, 2025
The Hype on Hyperscalers: Data Centers and Growing Electricity Demand
Demand for electricity is growing as power-hungry data centers keep popping up. But with uncertainties over how much, when, and where the growth will happen, planning for future demand is a challenge for local governments, state regulators, and utilities.
Press Release — Jan 13, 2025
New York State’s Cap-Trade-and-Invest Program Can Financially Benefit Many Households
A new paper finds that affordability concerns with New York State's proposed cap-trade-and-invest program may not loom quite as large as some may fear.
Report — Jan 13, 2025
Analyzing Affordability: Supporting Households under New York’s Cap-Trade-and-Invest Policy
This report, produced in partnership with the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance, investigates how different allowance-funded investment and dividend strategies can affect transportation and residential energy costs faced by New York households.
Report — Apr 18, 2025
Charging Up: The State of Utility-Scale Electricity Storage in the United States
This report explores how economic forces, public policy, and market design have shaped the development of stand-alone grid-scale storage in the United States.
Report — Jan 13, 2025
Analyzing Affordability: Supporting Households under New York’s Cap-Trade-and-Invest Policy
This report, produced in partnership with the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance, investigates how different allowance-funded investment and dividend strategies can affect transportation and residential energy costs faced by New York households.
Journal Article — Jan 9, 2025
Impacts of EPA’s Finalized Power Plant Greenhouse Gas Standards
Emissions reductions may be met with relatively small costs.
Issue Brief — Oct 17, 2024
Air Quality Impacts of New York State Cap-Trade-and-Invest Design
Air Quality Impacts of New York State Cap-Trade-and-Invest Design
Common Resources — Mar 24, 2025
The Hype on Hyperscalers: Data Centers and Growing Electricity Demand
Demand for electricity is growing as power-hungry data centers keep popping up. But with uncertainties over how much, when, and where the growth will happen, planning for future demand is a challenge for local governments, state regulators, and utilities.
Resources Magazine Articles — Oct 7, 2024
Putting Resources for the Future on the Map
The “souvenirs” that RFF researchers bring back from their global travels—new perspectives, knowledge, stories, and photos—show a world of Resources that are out there and worth sharing.
Common Resources — Oct 4, 2024
Why Prices Soared in a Recent Auction Held by a Major Electric Grid Operator
Prices soared in the market that pays electricity generators to be available to meet future demand in the PJM Interconnection, prompting policymakers, regulators, and researchers to debate the potential causes of increasing prices, along with solutions.
Resources Magazine Articles — May 16, 2024
Evolving Electricity Markets
Experts answer: What will US electricity markets look like in an emissions-free world?
Press Release — Jan 13, 2025
New York State’s Cap-Trade-and-Invest Program Can Financially Benefit Many Households
A new paper finds that affordability concerns with New York State's proposed cap-trade-and-invest program may not loom quite as large as some may fear.
Press Release — Jan 9, 2025
EPA Power Plant Rules Could Reduce Emissions, Speed Up Coal Plant Retirements
A new article in the journal Science finds that the US Environmental Protection Agency’s May 2024 rules limiting emissions from power plants could reduce US power-sector carbon emissions by 73 to 86 percent below 2005 levels by 2040.
Media Highlight — Dec 23, 2024
New York Focus: “New York May Finally Put a Price on Pollution in 2025”
RFF scholars Nicholas Roy and Molly Robertson are quoted in this piece about New York State’s proposed cap-trade-and-invest program.
Press Release — Jun 17, 2024
Together, the Inclusion of the Power Sector in the New York Cap-Trade-and-Invest Program and Facility-Specific Caps Help Disadvantaged Communities
A new issue brief explores ways to make New York State’s cap-trade-and-invest system more effective at reducing emissions near disadvantaged communities.