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An Approach for Better Aligning the Nation’s Clean Air and Clean Energy Goals

This study considers modifications to the Clean Air Act that would increase the number of emission allowances allocated to renewable energy generation to enable renewables to compete fairly in emission trading and clean air compliance markets, and estimates the economic and environmental benefits of these changes. This analysis provides better understanding of the benefits that would derive from a renewables role in Clean Air Act compliance regimes. The estimated impacts of these modifications are compared with those of other policies, including national renewable portfolio standards (RPS), a tighter cap for sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions and trading, modifications to the State Implementation Plans (SIP) for (nitrogen oxides (NOx) trading), multi-pollutant cap/trade, and a combination of multi-pollutant cap/trade and RPS.