Powering Progress: Industrial Decarbonization Planning at the State Level

The report examines 26 state-level Priority Climate Action Plans (PCAPs) submitted under the Climate Pollution Reduction Grants (CPRG) program, finding that most plans rely on generalities and high-cost incentives rather than sector-specific strategies. It argues that states must transition from high-level commitments to tailored, long-term roadmaps that prioritize cost-effective tools, such as operating-cost supports and regulatory standards, while leveraging co-benefits like public health improvements and workforce development to maintain American industrial competitiveness against international peers like China and the EU.

• State industrial decarbonization plans generally lack specificity, with only 27 percent of reviewed industrial measures identifying a specific subsector, and most relying on broad strategies like "energy efficiency."
• A significant portion of state policies focus on high-cost measures, such as unspecified incentives and capital grants, while neglecting lower-cost, high-impact tools like financing for low-carbon equipment or operating-cost supports.
• State plans show a heavy reliance on federal funding, with only nine states referencing non-federal funding sources and only seven including estimated budgets for their policy measures.
• There is a lack of integration of co-benefits in state planning; only half of the studied PCAPs identify potential co-pollutant reductions (such as NOx and PM2.5), and less than a third mention job impacts.
• International market pressures, including the European Union's carbon border adjustment mechanism and China's rapid decarbonization, create a market imperative for US states to decarbonize industry to remain competitive.
• Colorado provides a model for combining regulatory standards with financial support through its GEMM 1 and 2 rules, which mandate a 20 percent reduction in industrial emissions by 2030 compared to 2015 levels.

APA

RMI (2025). Powering Progress: Industrial Decarbonization Planning at the State Level. https://rmi.org/resources/powering-progress-industrial-decarbonization-planning-at-the-state-level/

Chicago

RMI. Powering Progress: Industrial Decarbonization Planning at the State Level. 2025. https://rmi.org/resources/powering-progress-industrial-decarbonization-planning-at-the-state-level/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=Powering Progress: Industrial Decarbonization Planning at the State Level |date=25 March 2025 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/powering-progress-industrial-decarbonization-planning-at-the-state-level/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2025powering, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{Powering Progress: Industrial Decarbonization Planning at the State Level}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2025}, month = mar, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/powering-progress-industrial-decarbonization-planning-at-the-state-level/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }