Welcome to the Climate Policy Menu

The intent of the menu is to help policymakers navigate the universe of policy solutions that can be used to reduce or remove carbon emissions, as well as mitigate the impacts of climate change in the United States, while protecting U.S. competitiveness and leadership into the next century.

The website is organized without preference to policy mechanism and is meant as an educational tool to provide objective information that will allow policymakers to create a mix of policies that they can support and will achieve the goal of getting the U.S. to net-zero GHG emissions by 2050.

Menu Structure

The Menu is broadly divided into three categories of steps the U.S. can take to address climate change and its impacts: Reduce, Remove and Adapt.

Reduce

“Reduce” covers policies to reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that cause global climate change.

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Remove

“Remove” covers policies that, on net, remove GHGs from the atmosphere (sometimes referred to as carbon dioxide removal, or CDR).”

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Adapt

”Adapt” covers policies that help society to be more resilient and to adapt to the climate change we’re unable to avoid through emission reduction and carbon removal.

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Navigating the Menu

One can navigate through the Climate Policy Menu in several ways: by segment (Reduce, Remove, Adapt), by sector of the economy (electricity, transportation, industry, residential and commercial buildings, agriculture and forestry, and cross-cutting), and by Congressional Committee of Jurisdiction.  Since many policies have diverse applications, one can learn about them through several points of entry. Within each segment, the Menu provides summaries of the major policy options, including a brief description, design considerations, U.S. experience, additional resources, and related policies.

Use the menu below, and sub-menus on other pages on this site, to see an array of policy tools. Policy options are displayed alphabetically by default, but you can also search or apply one or more filters to narrow your results.

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Block Grants to State and Local Governments

Remove and Reduce and Adapt

Accelerated Depreciation

Remove and Reduce

Carbon Bank

Remove

Direct Payments

Remove

Carbon Removal Tax Credits

Remove

Public-Private Partnerships

Remove and Reduce

Site Selection and Monitoring of Geologic Storage

Remove

Promoting Nature-Based Resilience

Adapt

Equity in Adaptation

Adapt

Resilient Infrastructure Policy

Adapt

Federal Adaptation Capacity Building

Adapt

Risk Screening and Disclosure

Adapt

Resource Management and Environmental Assessment

Adapt

Senior-Level Resilience Position

Adapt

National Adaptation Service

Adapt

Resilience Incentives

Adapt

Resilience Funding

Adapt

Carbon Pricing

Reduce and Remove

Carbon Removal RD&D

Remove

Clean Energy Standards

Reduce and Remove

Clean Energy Tax Credits

Reduce

Federal Energy Innovation

Reduce

Federal Land Management

Remove

Federal Procurement

Remove and Reduce

Labeling and Information

Reduce

Life Cycle Assessment

Remove and Reduce

Low Carbon Fuel Standards

Reduce and Remove

Low-Carbon Finance

Reduce

Methane Leak Management

Reduce

Monitoring for Land-Based Carbon Removal

Remove

Performance Standards (General)

Reduce

Procurement Standards (Buy Clean)

Reduce

Reducing Vehicle Miles Traveled

Reduce

Renewable Fuel Standards

Reduce

Tax Advantaged Financing Structures

Remove and Reduce

Technical Assistance for Businesses and Landowners

Reduce

Vehicle Standards

Reduce

Zero emission vehicles (ZEV) mandates

Reduce

Core Policy Mechanisms

Climate policy can take a variety of forms, and core policy instruments can and should be tailored to address different dynamics across geographies and U.S. economic sectors. They include:

Innovation

Innovation refers to a variety of activities that drive the development and commercialization of emerging technologies, whether through government labs, enterprising start-ups, small businesses, or the marketplace. The federal government has long played a role in energy innovation – whether for improving domestic energy security, reducing consumer costs, or mitigating climate change – and there is a lot the government can do to induce innovation beyond basic research.

Incentives

Incentives, including grants, project cost-sharing, and tax credits or deductions, provide provide strong financial signals that can be highly effective in changing behavior and driving growth in innovative technologies.

Investment

Investments are federal outlays that can be used to deploy, or pave the way for, low-carbon technologies or infrastructure. This includes some of the country’s largest procurement programs, such as federal spending on surface transportation or electricity infrastructure.

Standards

Standards seek a specific action or outcome, providing policymakers more certainty. Standards can take a variety of forms, including: command and control regulations that specify technologies and processes, and performance-based standards that require the regulated entity to meet a specific performance goal. Standards can be implemented at a variety of levels, including at a specific pollution source or across an entire economic sector.

Markets

Market-based approaches such as carbon pricing and emissions trading are meant to create market signals that encourage shifts in long-term investment decisions and accelerate the deployment of technologies that can reduce emissions. Market-based policy can be designed to be sector-specific or economy-wide, with cost, stringency, and distributional considerations around revenue and impacts among pertinent considerations.

Information, Coordination and Capacity-Building

One of the biggest challenges to addressing climate change preparedness and responses is limited access to information and expertise at all levels of decision making — from America’s communities to the halls of Congress. Information, coordination, and capacity building refers to a myriad of opportunities to get technical support to local government, provide training for federal agency and congressional staff on adaptation practice, and support research to enhance our national understanding of what is effective adaptation so it can be deployed from coast to coast.

Gaps and Feedback

The intent of the Menu is to answer policy makers’ key questions in a user-friendly manner. This is a current snapshot of the climate policy landscape, but we will continue to update the Menu over time, and we welcome user input to make it as comprehensive and easy to use as possible.

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