As Federal Climate Action Stalls, States Take up the Slack

2026 poses a challenging landscape for climate goals, but states are stepping up where others have stepped back. New projects, policies, pledges, and packages of climate-focused legislation continue unabated in nearly every state. Despite the widespread cancellations and clawbacks of federal funding that occurred throughout 2025, 2026 is still set to be a remarkable year of progress in for clean energy, decarbonization, and climate action as a whole.

New Jersey

Recently elected New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherril immediately set to work signing executive orders focused on energy affordability, support of renewable energy projects, and major changes to the state's energy infrastructure.

On day one, Gov. Sherril signed Executive Order 1, fulfilling a campaign promise to encourage utility companies to freeze rates while issuing bill credits to directly lower the cost of residential monthly bills. Another executive order directed stakeholders to initiate the process of developing new clean energy generation and storage sites, along with a plan for implementing a virtual power plant model at scale throughout the state.

These orders reflect Gov. Sherril's campaign promises to make energy rates more affordable, expand the state's energy generation capabilities through distributed clean energy projects and hubs.

Virginia

Another newly inaugurated leader, Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger, enacted a flurry of legislation soon after her arrival. 

The state is now set to rejoin the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). Joining the initiative requires states to implements caps on greenhouse gas emissions. Companies that want to go beyond these limits can increased their cap by purchasing a permit from the state's regulatory. These permit fees then directly fund decarbonization and climate-readiness priorities, such as flood resilience measures, and programs that lower the cost of making energy efficiency upgrades for low-income homeowners. The program earned over $800 million towards these efforts before former Gov. Glenn Youngkin backed out of RGGI in 2023.

Gov. Youngkin also issued an executive order directing every department and agency under the governor's office to propose measures that can lower energy costs and other monthly bills for state residents.

California

California continues to be a leading force for climate action at the sub-national level. In 2017, after the U.S. began the process of withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, then-California-governor Jerry Brown helped form the U.S. Climate Alliance. Member states of the Alliance pass policies and pledges to hold to the Paris Agreement's goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and keeping climate warming down below catastrophic levels.

As part of their pledge, California funds and operates a robust range of green energy implementation and expansion programs. These include projects to  install solar PV modules and implement energy efficiency upgrades to low-income multi-family properties, farmworker housing, low-income communities, and single-family residences. Collectively, these programs have funded just under $150 million in PV installation projects throughout the state.

The state has also spent nearly $60 million on programs to train a new generation of "Conservation Corps" workers. These corps members assist with projects involving forest health management, fire prevention, wetlands restoration, urban climate resilience, and other workforce training areas.

New York

As a member of the Climate Alliance, New York's Governor Kathy Hochul recently pledged $1 billion specifically towards sustainable projects that would boost employment in the clean energy generation and climate mitigation sectors. 

$50 million has been earmarked to provide low-to-moderate-income homes with free energy audits and upgrades, including heat pump installations. A separate project provides $150 million to subsidize clean energy and efficiency upgrades for small buildings, including residences, through the New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR) agency.

Another $50 million has been tapped for low-income public schools to invest in energy efficiency and decarbonization improvements.

$200 million was set aside to develop and expand thermal energy networks in key regions throughout the state. Another $200 million will be used by the New York Power Authority (NYPA) to fund renewable energy generation projects.

Rural PV Manufacturing and Installation Projects Also Set to Boom in 2026

Many states that seem to be taking a backseat in clean energy development and decarbonization are actually (even quietly) becoming a hotbed for new PV projects.

Texas leads the country with 871 in-development solar projects, according to the Cleanview database. These projects will lead to a collective 201 GW increase in capacity. 10 of them, achieving a total increase of 2.2GW, are set to come online in the next few months.

Other enormous projects are in the works for Arizona, Ohio, Illinois, Washington, Georgia, Oregon, and Florida.

Many states are also unexpectedly stepping up when it comes to incentivizing and supporting the expansion of the U.S.'s solar manufacturing capacity. New plants are being constructed in Texas and Georgia for photovoltaic cell manufacturing, and Corning recently upgraded its Michigan plant to produce wafers in the U.S. These new factories give the U.S. the capability to produce every component needed in the PV module supply chain entirely domestically for the first time since 2013.

As States Lean In, So Can Your Community

Gemini Energy Solutions partners with municipalities, developers, building owners, and a wide range of other stakeholders to make clean energy in their community a reality. From our Conserve™ scalable energy auditing SaaS platform to our unique consulting expertise for microgrid projects, we can position your local, regional, or state push for success.

Reach out to us to discuss your needs and find out how we can decarbonize and expand clean energy access, together.

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