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“If you want to go fast, go alone but if you want to go far, go together.” This perfectly captures the journey to standing up a West-wide electricity market. After years of collaboration, Western states are now closer than ever to a true regional electricity market that can deliver cleaner, cheaper and more reliable power.
In September 2025, Governor Newsom signed AB 825 into law, creating a path to a regional electricity market governed by an independent board made up of members from across the West. It is a major step forward in a decade-long effort to integrate energy systems across western states and improve regional coordination.
In December 2025, the Pathways launch committee adopted a series of corporate documents to enshrine the Regional Organization for Western Energy (ROWE), the new oversight body that will run the market envisioned in AB 825. Included in these documents were the ROWE’s bylaws, which contain a suite of public-interest provisions to ensure that the market will be the most transparent of any organized market in the country. To understand how far the West has come, it’s helpful to reflect on how it all started.
Unlike much of the United States, the electric grid across western states is not managed by a single market operator, commonly known as a Regional Transmission Operator (RTO) or Independent System Operator (ISO). Instead, 37 individual balancing authorities match electricity generation to demand in their jurisdiction and build the infrastructure to both supply and deliver that power. Each of these entities is responsible for balancing grid supply with demand, how much transmission infrastructure gets built and who they contract to buy and sell power from.
The fragmented nature of the Western grid creates significant inefficiencies, increasing the cost of sourcing and delivering power throughout the region, making it harder and more costly to deliver power where it is needed in moments of grid stress. A regional electricity market can alleviate these inefficiencies by increasing coordination and reducing the cost of trading power across utility boundaries, enabling better coordination and data-sharing, and ultimately enabling entities to trade power more cheaply across the West. The geographic footprint of these balancing authorities is large enough that trades amongst them would enable an electric grid that is “larger than the weather” — meaning an extreme event in one balancing authority would not impact several others. A robust market to trade electricity could help out specific areas when there is an extreme weather event. And with the effects of climate change becoming more real, these extreme weather events are only more likely to occur in the coming years.
To help facilitate real-time trades of electricity amongst the different balancing authorities, the West created the Western Energy Imbalance Market (WEIM). Launched in 2014 and currently operated by the California Independent System Operator (CAISO), the WEIM is a real-time energy market. By pooling resources regionally, WEIM allows participants to access the cheapest energy available in real time, which is valuable during events when localized shortages occur. WEIM has been an all-around success since its inception, growing to include over 20 balancing authorities covering about 79% of the load in the Western Interconnection and delivering an estimated $7.4 billion in gross benefits.
CAISO is in the process of building on WEIM’s success by establishing an Extended Day-Ahead Market (EDAM), a forward-looking market where energy trading is done a day in advance and generation is committed to meet forecasted demand for the following day. This kind of early commitment can reduce prices, enhance reliability, and support more integration of renewable energy onto the grid. Analyses of the EDAM demonstrate major benefits across the entire Western grid, in California as a whole, and to individual utilities including PNM, NVE, PacifiCorp.
For deeper dives on the cost and reliability upside, including savings for utilities that join EDAM and the value of a unified West‑wide market, see our recent posts:
Studies also have shown that a unified day-ahead market across the region would provide substantial benefits to participants, with additional services toward a full RTO providing even greater benefits. However, until now there has been one central challenge to this unified, coordinated market structure: how it is governed. A market designed to serve the entire West must be governed by the entire West. While previous attempts have been made to address governance concerns, none has succeeded and the result has been stagnation of regional market development, at least until now.
FERC also has a great explainer on energy markets in the Western United States.
Launched in 2023, the West-Wide Governance Pathways Initiative (WWGPI) is a collaborative effort by regulators from several Western states, including Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington that was designed to bridge the governance challenge that has stymied expansion of Western markets (EDF has served on the Launch Committee of the Pathways Initiative since its formation). The goal of the Pathways Initiative is to create a structure that is truly independent and representative of the entire region, creating more opportunities for input and decision-making by parties that reflect the diversity and interests of the region as a whole.
This vision for a truly regional electricity market took an enormous step forward in September when California Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB825, which enables California’s electric utilities to participate in an independently governed regional market. Importantly, AB825 also affirmed state-level independence over electricity policy, making clear that participation in a regional market does not impede state policymakers’ authority to set utility requirements based on the priorities and needs of that state.
With the adoption of AB825 into California law, the Pathways Initiative moves to its next phase: the creation of the Regional Organization for Western Energy (ROWE) — a fully independent entity with exclusive authority over both WEIM and EDAM, as well as potential future market offerings.
The ROWE will manage both the existing Western markets (EIM and EDAM) and new market mechanisms, including resource adequacy, with others that can be added over time. The ROWE will be governed by a fully independent board, separate from CAISO, whose members will be nominated by market stakeholders. The new corporate governance documents, including the bylaws that will be submitted this year, set a new standard for transparent, responsive, and effective electricity market governance. The only market operator in the country with an Office of Public Participation, modeled on FERC’s own Office of Public Participation, to facilitate greater input from organizations beyond just utilities.
With AB825 now law in California, a fully integrated West-wide electricity market is within reach. While there is much more work to do in the years to come, it is important to recognize the progress that has happened to date.
Even as recent federal actions have attempted to weaken or eliminate clean vehicle standards, states across the country are taking actions to support clean, affordable transportation – actions that cut pollution and save people money. EDF’s new U.S. Electric Vehicle State Policy Landscape Report provides a comprehensive assessment of how all 50 states and the District of Columbia are shaping the next generation of clean, affordable vehicles. The results are unmistakable: every state has taken steps to advance electric vehicles, and many are deploying innovative policies that deliver cleaner air, lower costs, and create economic opportunity.
The report evaluates 16 distinct policy types across seven categories – from financial incentives to charging infrastructure to public fleet electrification. This nationwide assessment reveals both remarkable breadth and significant depth: many of the strongest EV policy portfolios span diverse states across the country like Arizona (14), Illinois (13), Alabama (12), and Colorado (13).
States Are Making EVs More Affordable
Direct financial incentives remain one of the most effective ways to put more drivers behind the wheel of a clean light-, medium-, or heavy-duty vehicle, and states are making that possible:
These incentives make clean transportation an even more affordable option for households and companies.
Charging Infrastructure Is Expanding Rapidly
States are also dramatically expanding EV charging access – a foundational step for widespread adoption:
And all states and DC have adopted fast-charging corridor plans through the bipartisan National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program, helping ensure EV drivers can travel long distances with confidence.
Public Fleets Are Going Electric
Many states are embracing EVs in transit fleets, school buses, and state agency vehicles, helping clean the air where people live, work, and learn:
These commitments accelerate deployment, lower public-sector fuel and maintenance costs, and EV use across communities.
Innovation and Collaboration Are Accelerating Progress
Some of the most innovative developments involve emerging technologies and regional coordination:
These forward-looking strategies further expand the benefits of clean, affordable solutions.
The Path Ahead
Despite federal uncertainty, states continue to lead the way. In addition to analyses from partners across the clean transportation sector, EDF’s new report offers an overview that policymakers, utilities, advocates, and industry leaders can use to accelerate this progress and ensure every community benefits from zero-emission transportation solutions. Explore the full report at https://www.edf.org/how-states-are-powering-americas-clean-transportation-future.
Research from Environmental Defense Fund shows that when it comes to evaluating the climate efficacy of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) strategies, timescale matters.
CDR strategies like wetland restoration and direct air capture are critical for reaching net-zero targets. We typically assess their potential climate benefit by calculating the amount of net carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions removed from the atmosphere, balancing the emissions and removals of various greenhouse gases (GHGs) by their climate impact over the 100-year timeframe.
However, some CDR strategies can increase other greenhouse gases, including methane that has a much shorter lifetime in the atmosphere. That warms the climate in the near term. This new study uses wetland restoration as a case study to demonstrate that relying only on long-term metrics can overlook potential near-term warming impacts.
The limits of GWP 100
Most climate assessments today use the 100-year Global Warming Potential (GWP100), which compares the climate impact of a non-CO2 greenhouse gas emission to an equal amount of CO2, allowing all greenhouse gases to be expressed as the net CO2e, comparing all emissions to carbon dioxide over a 100-year time horizon.
This metric allows us to represent the climate impacts of multiple greenhouse gases on the same scale. With GWP100/CO2e as the standard, results are often reported as CO2e with no mention of the timescale, or near-term impacts.
Methane is a potent, short-term climate accelerator, and its short-term impacts can be diluted and under accounted for using only the GWP100/CO2e metric because for 80 out of the 100 years it’s evaluated, the pulse of methane is no longer in the atmosphere. That can create a blind spot in our evaluation of these strategies’ climate benefits.
Case in point: wetland restoration
Wetland restoration illustrates the importance of timescales. Restored wetlands act as a carbon sink and provide major ecological benefits, yet saturated soils can generate methane. The net climate impact depends not only on how much CO2 is removed from the atmosphere, but also on the full set of greenhouse gases involved and the metrics chosen to evaluate their relative impacts. The results suggest that perceived climate benefits may be undermined by the extent of methane emissions.
The EDF study also provides a practical framework to account for the climate impacts of all greenhouse gases across different time horizons, which can be used to evaluate any CDR strategy. With basic emissions data, users can apply arithmetic or more advanced open-source modeling tools. This gives researchers and decision-makers visibility into both potential near-term climate risks and long-term climate benefits, helping them fine-tune their CDR project designs.
Carefully designed CDR strategies
Recognizing potential trade-offs gives us the opportunity to design more effective CDR strategies. It’s like planning a budget: long-term gains may be well worth the short-term expenses, but it is certainly better to plan for and track current spending. Better yet, the “short-term expense” could be managed. For example, wetland restoration project developers can potentially choose sites and practices that limit methane emissions increases or complement CDR with other methane mitigation strategies.
Accounting for the climate impacts of various greenhouse gases using both near- and long-term metrics in CDR research is the first step. Policymakers should encourage climate benefit evaluations that go beyond carbon dioxide and 100-year effects before pursuing CDR strategies. Doing so helps ensure near-term warming doesn’t undermine long-term climate goals. This new framework from EDF helps fill this gap in our thinking, so CDR can genuinely serve both near- and long-term climate goals.
While the Trump administration spent 2025 rolling back climate policies – increasing harmful pollution and driving electricity costs higher for families – states led with solutions that protect consumers, expand clean energy and advance more affordable, equitable electricity choices. These wins didn’t happen on their own. They happened where governors, regulators, consumer advocates, environmental organizations and community partners fought for cleaner air and lower bills – and where utilities were held accountable for delivering modern, reliable, cost-effective solutions. Here are some of Environmental Defense Fund and our partners’ most meaningful victories from the past year:
Illinois curbed rate hikes and expanded access to clean, affordable electricity
Illinois regulators cut gas utilities’ proposed rate increases in half, trimmed the utilities’ profit rates, and rejected renewable natural gas proposals that would have raised costs without providing environmental value. EDF and Illinois PIRG were involved for months, urging regulators to require cleaner, cheaper alternatives – and the decision sends a clear message that utilities must modernize and offer cleaner, more affordable alternatives rather than double down on yesterday’s gas infrastructure.
Illinois regulators also unlocked more than $250 million for an electrified clean energy future: EV charging, fleet electrification, small business support and customer benefits. When the Illinois Attorney General challenged the Commission’s authority to approve these programs, EDF and partners intervened and won on all contested issues, protecting this progress.
EDF secured a landmark agreement with a utility to add new and expanded transmission lines – one of the most powerful tools for keeping electricity clean and affordable – and deploy grid-enhancing technologies to boost the performance of existing lines. These advanced hardware and software tools can cut the time and cost of connecting renewable energy to the grid. The agreement is expected to create up to 32,000 jobs, support power for 1.8 million homes, and deliver long-term savings for customers across the Midwest and beyond.
In Illinois, a new electricity rate called Rate BEST helps Commonwealth Edison customers save money using more renewable energy by shifting electricity use to times of day when power tends to be more affordable and cleaner. Since 2015, EDF and the Citizens Utility Board have championed time-of-use rates in Illinois, working with ComEd to design, pilot, and bring Rate BEST to customers in the new year.
New York advanced heat pump affordability and modern grid planning
EDF and partners secured an agreement with Con Edison to expand access to simpler, fairer electric rates designed for heat pumps – helping households cut heating bills and realize the full benefits of clean, efficient heating. These types of rates can save an average customer around $500 per year in energy costs. The utility will also expand outreach and education programs to help customers understand their options.
At the same time, the New York Public Service Commission advanced 29 critical electric grid upgrades to support electric vehicle (EV) charging and building electrification, then adopted a proactive planning framework that speeds interconnection of new loads while cutting costs. EDF’s recommendations helped drive these reforms.
Texas advanced EV charging and smarter grid planning
Texas also saw meaningful progress in 2025. EDF secured commitments from the utility CenterPoint to improve EV forecasting and modernize distribution system planning – essential steps for cost-effective electrification in one of the country’s fastest-growing EV markets. CenterPoint also committed to bolster its efforts to support the Port of Houston’s ongoing electrification, a move that will cut pollution and improve public health in surrounding communities.
Massachusetts helped customers reduce energy bills with clean heat
Massachusetts utilities – Unitil, National Grid, and Eversource – cut winter electricity rates for homes using heat pumps, saving these households about $540 on average this winter, a 17% reduction in heating bills. Adopted by the Department of Public Utilities, the rates fix long-standing inequities in how heat pump customers are charged. EDF intervened in National Grid’s rate case to secure the heat pump rate for all heat pump homes and a tiered discount rate of 32-71% for income qualifying households regardless of whether their home has a heat pump.
Looking ahead to 2026, EDF and partners are pushing for deeper seasonal delivery-charge discounts to better align winter electric heating costs with natural gas. New analysis commissioned by EDF shows that fairer rate design could enable more than 80% of Massachusetts homes to save an average of $687 in a single season – unlocking even greater benefits from clean electric heating and providing a model for other states.
In addition, Massachusetts began implementing landmark siting and permitting reforms adopted by the state legislature in late 2024. These reforms streamline and speed up the deployment of clean energy infrastructure, while helping ensure robust community engagement and careful consideration of project impacts. This year, the state released draft guidance and proposed regulations on site suitability assessments, cumulative impacts, and related issues. EDF has actively engaged at every stage of this process and remains committed to supporting the successful implementation of these critical reforms.
New Jersey protected customers and stopped costly hydrogen blending experiments
New Jersey regulators rejected a utility proposal to make customers pay for unproductive experiments blending hydrogen and biomethane – rebranded as “renewable natural gas” –into the gas system. EDF helped negotiate a settlement that scales back Public Service Electric & Gas’ (PSE&G) planned infrastructure spending, protecting households from unnecessary costs and keeping the state focused on cleaner, proven, and more affordable solutions. EDF also commissioned a study showing that PSE&G’s proposed hydrogen blending is far less efficient than helping customers electrify home heating with heat pumps.
A year of progress despite Washington’s attempts to reverse course
In a year when the Trump administration focused on undermining climate progress and helped drive up electricity costs, states showed what real leadership looks like. They cut unjustified rate hikes, rejected wasteful gas spending, required utilities to invest in modernizing the grid, expanded clean energy and secured fairer, more affordable electric rates for millions of families.
The message from 2025 is clear: a cleaner, more affordable, and fairer electricity system is possible, and EDF is committed to helping states deliver on this promise for everyone.
As 2025 comes to a close, we’re looking back on several significant moments of climate leadership (and a few examples of backsliding we’d rather forget) in state-level cap-and-invest programs which kept us moving forward even in the face of a hostile and anti-science federal government.
Across the country, governors, legislators and regulators doubled down on cap and invest programs as one of the most powerful tools at our disposal to reduce household costs while cutting pollution and investing in local communities.
States like California and Washington showed how climate leadership and cutting costs can go hand-in-hand with major progress on carbon pricing policies that cut pollution and put more money into their residents’ pockets. As we look ahead to 2026, these states (and others that follow their lead) have the chance to meaningfully deliver for the climate and for their constituents.
This fall, after championing cap-and-invest as a tool to fight climate change and address affordability challenges, Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation extending the state’s program through at least 2045, with supermajority support in each chamber of the legislature. California’s cap-and-invest program continues to deliver major benefits for communities: the program has raised nearly $33 billion for climate projects and community investments, including affordable housing, wildfire resilience, expanding public transit, and vehicle electrification. Reauthorization ensures California can continue to invest in climate and affordability solutions – with the legislation projected to save $3.9 billion for households earning less than $70,000 per year, equivalent to nearly $700 per household. It also builds momentum toward a broader interconnected West Coast market as leaders in California and Washington state are preparing to move towards linking their states’ cap-and-invest markets together.
For over a decade, California’s cap-and-invest program and other landmark climate policies have made the state a national leader. As the Golden State has charted its path forward — cutting pollution and lowering costs for households — other states have followed suit with similar strategies that pair climate progress with affordability.
The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) is the nation’s longest running cap-and-invest program, and spans across 10 states delivering economic and climate benefits. Since its inception in 2009, RGGI has raised over $9 billion for clean energy and efficiency, provided direct benefits for over 8 million households and generated over $20 billion in projected energy bill savings. This year, RGGI states completed their Third Program Review and announced updates that significantly strengthen the regional cap on climate pollution beginning in 2027.
And in November, voters sent a powerful message: they want more of this progress not just because the program is ensuring the power sector decarbonizes at a faster rate than the rest of the country, but because the program itself is a powerful tool for driving down energy costs. In Virginia, voters elected the candidate who explicitly committed to staying in RGGI, handily defeating an opponent who campaigned on abandoning the program. Virginia Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger supported the state rejoining RGGI as part of her platform to make energy bills more affordable, and defeated her opponent, a vocal opponent of RGGI, by roughly 15 points.
Washington’s cap-and-invest program continued to demonstrate its strength in 2025, generating roughly $1.2 billion this year in revenue that will be invested in climate resilience, communities, and the clean energy transition while also ensuring that covered polluters in the state are reducing their pollution in line with the state’s climate targets. Following the 2024 election where Washingtonians voted to defend their cap-and-invest program by a whopping 23 point margin, 2025 offered a clearer picture of what that vote secured: major climate and economic benefits for communities, and momentum toward linking Washington’s program with California and Quebec.
Some key states affirmed their climate and affordability goals in 2025 and now face the task of turning commitments into measurable results. In 2026, follow-through is critical to ensure emissions are reduced, households benefit, and community investments are delivered.
California had a big year for climate in 2025 with the reauthorization of cap-and-invest, but the work is far from over. In order to actually implement the important updates made to the program and align the emissions cap with California’s climate targets, California needs to finalize a rulemaking that’s been in the works for years. Draft regulatory text from CARB remains under development, with release expected in late 2025 or early 2026. The agency needs to act swiftly and ambitiously as soon as possible in 2026 to finalize these long-awaited program updates.
The other major climate resolution on California’s list this year is taking concrete next steps toward a unified carbon market with Washington. California’s program has been linked with the cap-and-invest program in Quebec for over ten years now, and when Washington lawmakers were designing their own cap-and-invest program, they did so with the goal of linking to this broader existing market.
A linked market would bring real advantages — improving price stability, reducing emissions at a greater rate and at lower cost than could be achieved alone, and creating a model for durable, multi-state climate leadership. Washington has made steady progress towards linkage with their ongoing rulemaking, and in 2026 should finalize their rulemaking and work collaboratively with California and Quebec on a linkage agreement.
Colorado is facing rising energy costs, federal attacks on clean energy progress, and worsening climate impacts — while remaining off track from its statutory emission reduction goals. Colorado Senator and candidate for Governor, Michael Bennet, released his plan for a statewide cap-and-invest program as a key pillar of his climate and affordability strategy if elected Governor. This type of program could complement Colorado’s existing climate and energy policies and accelerate pollution reductions to close the gap between pollution levels and statewide targets. For Colorado, adopting a cap-and-invest program could reduce a cumulative one billion tons of climate pollution through 2050, relative to the state’s estimate for emissions under existing policy. And Colorado would also stand to gain the affordability benefits already seen in other cap-and-invest programs around the country, like the $16 billion California households have received on their electricity and natural gas bills thanks to utility bill credits funded by cap-and-invest.
Colorado can strengthen its climate toolkit with policies that protect family budgets, limit climate pollution, and support clean-energy jobs. A well-designed cap-and-invest program would accomplish all three– and a solution that’s ripe for all candidates for Governor and state legislature to embrace.
Virginia faces unprecedented energy demand growth, driven in part by a boom in data center construction that is putting upward pressure on electric bills for families. New analysis shows that volatile fossil fuel costs and heavy investment in grid infrastructure are major drivers of rising power costs, and that shifting investment toward lower-cost, price-stable renewable energy is key to stabilizing rates while cutting pollution. Participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative previously helped Virginia cut carbon pollution by 22% and raised over $800 million in funding for energy efficiency programs that cut household energy costs, as well as community resilience programs. Rejoining RGGI in 2026 would help ensure that as demand for electricity accelerates, the state keeps energy affordable, accelerates cuts in pollution, and delivers community investments rather than locking in costly fossil infrastructure. Virginia needs action next year to restore the climate, consumer, and environmental benefits that Virginians clearly want. And with a new Governor-elect who understands how RGGI can deliver for Virginians, the time is right for progress.
Other states stepped back in 2025 from proven climate solutions, vacating a climate leadership role and leaving significant consumer savings on the table. They need to reset their approach, and in the new year have the opportunity to learn from what other states have done to deliver big on both climate and affordability. Ambitious policies can deliver cuts in pollution alongside much-needed investments to drive down household energy costs..
In 2026, New York should follow through on its climate commitments by standing up the cap-and-invest program — now known as the Clean Air Initiative — after years of delay. Unlike households in California and Washington that are seeing savings today on their utility bills because of cap-and-invest revenue, the delay is costing New Yorkers at the same time many are looking for relief. Moving the program forward will unlock billions in community investments and meaningful savings for working families across the state, and help get the state on track to meeting its climate targets.
Cap-and-invest is expected to generate at least $3 billion annually that can save New Yorkers money on energy bills, create family-sustaining jobs, and deliver health benefits, particularly in communities most impacted by climate and air pollution. Research shows the program could deliver substantial affordability benefits, with nearly all households earning under $200,000 — about 85% of households in the state — projected to see net savings.
The Hochul administration is currently appealing a court decision in a lawsuit brought by environmental justice organizations, which found that the state is violating its climate law after failing to advance rules to limit emissions. 2026 is a year for action, not further delay. Governor Hochul has the opportunity to join other Governors who are slashing pollution, shielding families from rising energy costs, and pushing back against federal rollbacks that would stick New Yorkers with dirty, expensive energy sources. The sooner New York’s Clean Air Initiative gets back on track, the sooner New Yorkers will benefit from lower electricity bills and cleaner air.
Pennsylvania took a significant step backward in 2025 when Governor Shapiro abandoned the Commonwealth’s plan to participate in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). This decision means Pennsylvania forfeited its most powerful tool to lower electricity bills for households and cut pollution. The decision was a result of a months-long budget impasse. Pennsylvanians had not yet seen the benefits from the program as the state’s participation was pending the outcome of a legal challenge brought by fossil fuel interests. In fact, estimates suggest that delayed implementation of the program from its intended start date in 2022 amounted to $5 billion in foregone investments in energy efficiency and clean energy that should be providing relief on household energy bills today. By walking away when resolution was imminent, Governor Shapiro has further delayed the opportunity to unlock those benefits.
Yet, despite walking away from RGGI, Governor Shapiro has promoted a Pennsylvania-led cap-and-invest proposal throughout 2025 as part of his Lightning Plan. And, a working group he convened upon taking office with representatives from labor, the energy industry, consumer advocates, and environmental organizations reached consensus that a cap-and-invest approach to regulating power sector pollution is the optimal approach for PA to protect and create energy jobs, take real action to address climate change, and ensure reliable, affordable power for consumers. Governor Shapiro must consider every avenue to enact new policies that reduce climate pollution and deliver cleaner air, healthier communities, and lower bills for Pennsylvanians at the same scale as promised by RGGI.
As federal leaders continue to undermine climate science and exacerbate the causes of climate change, states have shown what real climate leadership looks like. In 2025, cap-and-invest programs specifically were among the state level efforts that delivered the most tangible and high-impact results — cutting pollution, lowering energy bills and investing billions back into communities — while earning strong public support at the ballot box. These successes make clear that climate ambition and affordability are not in tension; in fact, with the right policy approach, going big on climate can deliver cost savings benefits to households that need it most.
Looking ahead to 2026, the opportunity is twofold. Leading states like California, Washington, and the RGGI region can build on proven programs by strengthening caps, finalizing rulemakings, and expanding collaboration across state lines. At the same time, states like Colorado and New York have a clear chance to turn momentum into action by taking critical steps towards standing up cap-and-invest programs that will deliver required pollution reductions, concrete economic benefits, and meaningful energy bill savings for households. Together, these efforts can push back against federal backsliding, protect families from rising costs, and chart a durable, state-led path toward a cleaner, more affordable energy future.
This blog is co-authored by Abhinav Guarav, Lead Advisor-Sustainable Dairy, Environmental Defense Fund, and Meredith Ryder-Rude, Associate Vice President for Global Engagement and Partnerships.
India is home to 80 million smallholder dairy farmers and nearly 300 million bovines, making it the world’s largest milk producer. The Indian dairy industry is responsible for a quarter of global milk supply and soon approaching one-third.
Dairy is not only culturally significant in India, but also the backbone of its agricultural economy, contributing significantly to GDP and rural livelihoods. But this sector is on the frontlines of climate change.
Summers that once lasted three months now stretch to five, bringing extreme heat and humidity that threaten milk production. Studies warn that without corrective action, India could lose 20–30 percent of its milk production by mid-century. The Lancet projects a 25% decline by 2085 under business-as-usual scenarios. Smallholder farmers—most owning just 3 to 5 animals—are especially vulnerable. They lack access to improved technologies, knowledge, and financing.
The Indian government has launched programs like NICRA (National Innovation for Climate Resilient Agriculture) and invested in research on heat stress and resilience. But scaling solutions to 80 million farmers remains a challenge. Knowledge exists, yet translating it into affordable, accessible technologies and services is the missing link.
Adaptation cannot rely solely on public funding. To get adaptation technologies—like shade barns, misting fans, and climate-smart feed—into the hands of vulnerable farmers, private sector investment and market mechanisms are essential.
This is where India has a unique opportunity. With strong dairy cooperatives, global dairy giants like Nestlé and Danone, and national development banks, India can lead in creating a market for adaptation solutions. (more…)
