New Climate Federalism: Defining Federal, State, and Local Roles in a U.S. Policy Framework to Achieve Decarbonization

The paper outlines a collaborative framework for U.S. climate action, arguing that while ambitious federal leadership is necessary to set national targets and international standards, state and local governments should act as 'laboratories of democracy' to pioneer solutions. It advocates for a system where federal standards provide a floor but do not preempt more ambitious subnational actions, emphasizing that land-use, zoning, and infrastructure resilience are best handled at the subnational level, while carbon pricing and clean energy standards should be collaborative efforts.

• Ambitious federal action is essential to address the climate crisis, but it should be designed to enable rather than impede more aggressive state and local initiatives. Federal standards should be ambitious enough to meet the challenge while allowing subnational governments to adopt strategies reflecting local and regional conditions.
• The federal government is best suited for high-level strategic roles, including setting science-consistent emission targets, managing international engagement, funding technology R&D, maintaining an emissions registry, and decarbonizing its own operations.
• Subnational governments possess a comparative advantage in implementing local land-use planning, zoning, transportation solutions, infrastructure resilience, and the equitable allocation of climate funding.
• Certain policy instruments, specifically carbon pricing programs, clean energy standards, and zero-emission vehicle standards, are most effective when managed through a collaborative approach across all levels of government.
• State and local governments serve as 'laboratories of democracy' that pioneer new solutions and market developments, which the federal government should then study and replicate nationally.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). New Climate Federalism: Defining Federal, State, and Local Roles in a U.S. Policy Framework to Achieve Decarbonization. https://www.wri.org/research/new-climate-federalism-defining-federal-state-and-local-roles-us-policy-framework-achieve

Chicago

World Resources Institute. New Climate Federalism: Defining Federal, State, and Local Roles in a U.S. Policy Framework to Achieve Decarbonization. n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/new-climate-federalism-defining-federal-state-and-local-roles-us-policy-framework-achieve.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=New Climate Federalism: Defining Federal, State, and Local Roles in a U.S. Policy Framework to Achieve Decarbonization |url=https://www.wri.org/research/new-climate-federalism-defining-federal-state-and-local-roles-us-policy-framework-achieve |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendnew, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{New Climate Federalism: Defining Federal, State, and Local Roles in a U.S. Policy Framework to Achieve Decarbonization}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/new-climate-federalism-defining-federal-state-and-local-roles-us-policy-framework-achieve}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }