Ordonez-Olazabal, K. A. Zhao, R. Cui, and N. Hultman (2026). “U.S. Emissions Pathways through 2050 with State-Level Targets.” Center for Global Sustainability, University of Maryland. 4 pp.
After a second withdrawal from the Paris Agreement in 2026, the United States no longer has an official Nationally Determined Contribution for 2035 in place. Furthermore, this withdrawal has been accompanied by domestic rollbacks of many clean energy incentives established under the Inflation Reduction Act and major greenhouse gas (GHG) regulations. States are increasingly stepping in to fill this gap and remain critical to sustaining U.S. climate action. In this analysis, we explore the following question: in the absence of an official U.S. 2035 NDC, what is the aggregate national ambition reflected by existing state-level GHG targets?