Many US states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico already have their own goals. Many have set renewable portfolio standards (RPSs), mandating that renewables make up a certain part of the power grid. Like the CES, RPSs set financial incentives for utilities to push those mandates along. (The CES, however, would shift the cost burden further away from ratepayers than RPSs tend to do.) This clean energy standard, or CES, would set up a tangible program that pushes utilities to shift towards net zero emissions. By setting an aggressive emissions target, the CES could translate into a lot of clean energy in a short time.

The policy is intended to provide strong enough incentives that no rational utility would pass up the upside in favor of penalties," says O'Boyle. Storage & organisation Furniture Textiles Kitchenware & tableware Kitchens Lighting Decoration Rugs, mats & flooring Beds & mattresses Baby & children Smart home Bathroom products Laundry & cleaning Plants & plant pots Home electronics Home improvement Outdoor living Food & beverages Christmas Shop Shop by room Clean energy projects, such as wind and solar farms, would see a windfall. "These projects would earn clean energy credits that they can sell to utilities who, in turn, use these credits to prove compliance with the federal clean energy mandate," says Felix Mormann, a professor of environmental and energy law at the Texas A&M University School of Law.RPS-like programs, according to Mormann, exist in the UK and many EU member states. The EU issues target-setting renewable energy directives—the latest being 34% renewable by 2030—leaving its member states to sort out how best to achieve them. The power sector is the second-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, and it will be the most important sector to decarbonize if the United States is to achieve the Biden administration’s goal to halve emissions by 2030 and reach 100 percent clean electricity by 2035. Congress is currently considering a budget reconciliation proposal that would enact historic levels of federal support to accelerate the clean energy transition in the electricity sector.

That said, it's uncertain how utilities would respond. "The standard would likely be technology neutral, so any zero-carbon resource could compete to meet the standard," says O'Boyle.For one, CES would set a clear target, the so-called "80x30" standard: generating, across the US, 80% of electricity by 2030 from clean sources, including renewables, hydro, and nuclear. (In contrast, according to O'Boyle, current trends likely land somewhere between 45 and 60%.) The Clean Energy Futures project is a multi-institutional research initiative with collaborators from Syracuse University; the Center for Climate, Health and the Global Environment at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; RFF; and Georgia Institute of Technology. Speakers In the US, RPSs have accounted for nearly half of the country's renewable energy growth since 2000. That's been slowing down in the late 2010s, but consensus is that RPSs have been a success, which bodes well for the CES.

Joe Biden may have called for 100% clean power in the United States by 2035, but he didn't set a clear path to get there. Now, there's a tantalizing trailhead. Outlined in Democrats' proposed budget is a national "clean energy standard."This departs from the status quo in some pretty meaningful ways," says Mike O'Boyle, Director of Electricity Policy at the think tank Energy Innovation. To reach the 80x30 goal, the US power grid would need to add between 60 and 80 GW of new clean power every year (double the record 35 GW of renewables added in 2020). It may seem daunting. Then again, it's hard to understate just how far renewable energy costs have fallen.

If the success of similar state policies...is any indication, then a federal clean energy standard can be expected to boost investment in clean, low-carbon energy projects," says Mormann. "At 80% by 2030, a federal CES would certainly move the needle." To reach the 80x30 goal, the US power grid would need to add between 60 and 80 GW of new clean power every year (double the record 35 GW of renewables added in 2020). Resources for the Future (RFF) hosted an RFF Live event on September 24, 2021, on the costs and benefits of policy to achieve the 80x30 goal and other emissions-reduction policies relevant to current national discussions. Our panel of experts—including researchers from the Clean Energy Futures project—discussed what’s at stake in the decisions before Congress.