Prioritizing Rural Communities for Reasonably Achievable Emissions Reductions

Abstract

The years 2020 to 2025 represent an inflection point in making and unmaking federal climate and energy policy. In less than five years, the United States enacted its most ambitious climate and energy legislation, allocating hundreds of billions of dollars toward increased energy efficiency, rapid adoption of renewable energy technologies, and investments centered on environmental justice. Following these actions, a new administration froze funds, cut justice-centered programs, and began the process of exiting the Paris Climate Agreement. In light of the ever-shifting administrative landscape, this dissertation examines how communities, particularly rural ones, can be prioritized throughout the energy transition. Employing three case studies, I explore the significance of behavioral plasticity (BP), initiative feasibility (IF), and technical potential (TP) in developing effective climate and energy governance. This manuscript-style dissertation combines qualitative and quantitative data to investigate how we can learn from young conservatives to depolarize climate conversations, serve low-income Latinx households in energy efficiency programs, and navigate access to local, state, and utility-level household incentive programs amid political uncertainty. The findings indicate several opportunities for community-defined decarbonization that could be implemented to forge a more sustained, meaningful, and pragmatic path forward.