Creating an Equitable and Durable US Climate Policy

This policy brief by RMI proposes five key objectives and associated tools to ensure the US energy transition is equitable and durable. It argues that current climate policies often deepen existing inequities and suggests shifting focus toward reducing energy burdens, rewarding carbon productivity, expanding federal financing for infrastructure transition, revitalizing fossil fuel communities, and prioritizing the retirement of the most harmful assets.

• Current US climate policy relies heavily on tax credits that are difficult to use for alleviating burdens on energy customers. Specifically, 'tax normalization' requires utilities to use the investment tax credit (ITC) for solar and storage to benefit investors rather than customers, making utility-owned clean energy more expensive for consumers.
• RMI proposes a 'transition tax credit' (TTC) to reward 'carbon productivity'—the ability to produce economic goods and services while emitting less carbon. This 12-year transition period credit would use EPA's Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP) for verification and would be technology-neutral across all economic sectors.
• The cost of retiring coal plants has increased significantly, with the net book value of a typical plant more than doubling since 2005. Approximately 80% of US coal generation is either unscheduled for retirement or scheduled after 2030, representing a book value of $129 billion.
• The Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office (LPO) currently focuses on commercializing new technologies. RMI suggests expanding its mission to address transition risks and costs for legacy fossil infrastructure, such as by guaranteeing ratepayer-backed coal transition bonds to allow for low-cost refinancing of unrecovered investments.
• Federal reclamation programs for former fossil fuel sites are described as 'vastly underfunded'. RMI recommends increasing federal funding for private reclamation and requiring the rehiring of displaced energy workers or workers from environmental justice communities.
• Climate policy should prioritize the transition of assets that cause the most health and economic harm to vulnerable populations. The document notes that fossil fuels contribute to 10.2 million premature deaths globally each year.

APA

Varadarajan, U., Serrurier, B., Posner, D., & Mardell, S. (2021). Creating an Equitable and Durable US Climate Policy. RMI. https://utilitytransitionhub.rmi.org/static/rmi_creating_an_equitable_and_durable_us_climate_policy.pdf

Chicago

Varadarajan, Uday, Ben Serrurier, David Posner, and Sam Mardell. Creating an Equitable and Durable US Climate Policy. RMI, 2021. https://utilitytransitionhub.rmi.org/static/rmi_creating_an_equitable_and_durable_us_climate_policy.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Varadarajan |first1=Uday |last2=Serrurier |first2=Ben |last3=Posner |first3=David |last4=Mardell |first4=Sam |title=Creating an Equitable and Durable US Climate Policy |publisher=RMI |date=June 2021 |url=https://utilitytransitionhub.rmi.org/static/rmi_creating_an_equitable_and_durable_us_climate_policy.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{varadarajan2021creating, author = {Varadarajan, Uday and Serrurier, Ben and Posner, David and Mardell, Sam}, title = {{Creating an Equitable and Durable US Climate Policy}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2021}, month = jun, url = {https://utilitytransitionhub.rmi.org/static/rmi_creating_an_equitable_and_durable_us_climate_policy.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }