State capitals face a turbulent year for climate policy, as growing energy demand collides with worsening climate impacts and the all-but-certain decline of federal clean energy investments.
Donald Trump’s return to the White House promises to upend the federal subsidies and regulations that undergird recent state climate action. That will come as artificial intelligence and data centers drive a spike in electricity demand, exacerbating cost-of-living concerns as utilities seek to build new generation infrastructure and prolong the life of coal and gas plants.
Those trends will shape this year’s legislative sessions from Albany, New York, to Austin, Texas, experts say.
“Everybody’s talking about data centers and load growth,” said Justin Balik, senior state program director for Evergreen Action. “There is going to be a need to really confront electricity costs in a significant way.”
