US Energy-Related Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the Absence of Federal Climate Policy

The planned US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement as well as uncertainty about federal climate policy has raised questions about the country’s future emissions trajectory. Our model-based analysis accounts for uncertainty in fuel prices and energy technology capital costs and suggests that market forces are likely to keep US energy-related greenhouse gas emissions relatively flat or produce modest reductions: in the absence of new federal policy, 2040 greenhouse gas emissions range from +10% to −23% of the baseline estimate. Natural gas versus coal utilization in the electric sector represents a key trade-off, particularly under conservative assumptions about future technology innovation. The lowest emissions scenarios are produced when the cost of natural gas and electric vehicles declines, while coal and oil prices increase relative to the baseline.