Since President Donald Trump took office for his second term, it has been apparent that his administration aims to roll back federal climate change regulations. In June, the Trump Administration’s EPA proposed a repeal of all greenhouse gas emission (GHG) regulations in the power sector, which would lead to increased burning of fossil fuels.[1] In July, the Trump Administration announced plans to undo the 2009 GHG Endangerment Finding that is at the crux of environmental regulation surrounding new motor vehicles in the United States.[2] This finding designated six greenhouse gases as threatening to “the public health and welfare of current and future generations.”[3] These two proposals, along with other statements by the President, have made it abundantly clear that the President wants to keep climate change policy out of the federal government’s hands, forcing the states to take their own actions to address the climate crisis.

The idea of states acting as a laboratory for climate policy innovation is not a novel one. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis first referred to states as laboratories of democracy in New State Ice Co. v. Liebmann, stating that it made sense for states to attempt newer, experimental policies, rather than risking adverse effects nation-wide.[4] Over the last few years, many states have followed this line of thinking, implementing bold climate policy that could serve as an example of how to slow climate change at the state level.

One example of aggressive, unique climate policy is Massachusetts’ Community Climate Bank (MCCB). This “green bank,” which was announced in 2023, was the first of its kind in the United States, focusing on decarbonizing affordable housing through programs such as the Energy Saver Home Loan Program.[5] This loan program, which is MCCB’s first consumer product, acknowledges the disproportionate burden low-income communities carry when it comes to environmental harms, and seeks to fix this problem by providing low-interest loans for property owners to cut down their energy consumption, fossil fuel reliance, and overall negative environmental impact.[6] Green bank programs such as this one eventually made their way into federal law through the Biden Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in 2022, highlighting the clear path for state-level environmental policy to become federal policy.[7] However, the Trump Administration effectively removed these green banks by freezing and rescinding the funding from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF).[8]

California is perhaps the best-known example of a state pursuing aggressive greenhouse gas targets to slow the effects of climate change. One industry that California is working hard to fix is the cement industry, which accounts for 8% of all anthropogenic CO₂ emissions in the world.[9] California, being the United States’ second biggest producer of cement, has set a lofty goal for the industry: to be at net-zero carbon emissions by 2045.[10] The cement industry has made it clear that reaching this goal will be very difficult, citing the need for state funding in order to make this goal attainable.[11] While they wait on the funding, however, some technological innovation has been made. A Silicon Valley company called Fortera began a pilot partnership with the Redding, California cement plant in which they used a carbon conversion process to convert the gas to a mineral form that actually strengthens cement, increasing the efficiency of producing cement and decreasing its greenhouse gas burden.[12] This project was successful enough for Fortera to secure $85 million in funding to scale the project up.[13]

While limiting environmental policymaking to the state level can impact the overall effectiveness of these measures as a nation, that should not dissuade states from continuing to spark innovation through policymaking decisions. Whether it comes as a result of an administration change or a 180 degree turn by the current administration, the reality is that the federal government will, at some point, play a large role again in regulating the environment. When that moment arises, it will be essential to hit the ground running to make up for lost time, making innovation at the state level over the next few years absolutely crucial, and arguably more important, than ever before. If the Fortera experiment, for example, continues to be successful in California, the nation should be quick to adopt lower-carbon cement options. While bigger risks in policymaking will certainly lead to some failure, they also have the potential to lead to massive payoffs. There is little doubt that these federal rollbacks will slow progress temporarily, but states have an opportunity to flip the script by using this time of uncertainty to make the next big breakthrough in the fight against the climate crisis.

 

 

[1] Press Release, EPA Press Office, EPA Proposes Repeal of Biden-Harris EPA Regulations for Power Plants, Which, If Finalized, Would Save Americans More than a Billion Dollars a Year (June 11, 2025), https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-proposes-repeal-biden-harris-epa-regulations-power-plants-which-if-finalized-would.

[2] Press Release, EPA Press Office, EPA Releases Proposal to Rescind Obama-Era Endangerment Finding, Regulations that Paved the Way for Electric Vehicle Mandates, EPA (July 29, 2025), http://epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-releases-proposal-rescind-obama-era-endangerment-finding-regulations-paved-way.

[3] Endangerment and Cause or Contribute Findings for Greenhouse Gases Under Section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act, 74 Fed. Reg. 66,496 (Dec. 15, 2009).

[4] New State Ice Co. v. Liebmann, 285 U.S. 262, 311 (1932) (Brandeis, J., dissenting).

[5] Press Release, Office of the Governor of Massachusetts, Massachusetts Community Climate Bank Launches First Consumer Loan Product (Apr. 29, 2024), https://www.mass.gov/news/massachusetts-community-climate-bank-launches-first-consumer-loan-product.

[6] Id.

[7] 42 U.S.C. § 7434 (2022) (repealed 2025).

[8] One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Pub. L. No. 119-21, § 60002, 139 Stat. 154 (2025).

[9] Johanna Lehne & Felix Preston, Making Concrete Change: Innovation in Low-Carbon Cement and Concrete, Chatham House (June 13, 2018), https://www.chathamhouse.org/2018/06/making-concrete-change-innovation-low-carbon-cement-and-concrete.

[10]  Nadia Lopez, Climate-Friendly Cement? California Takes on a High-Carbon Industry, Cal Matters (June 27, 2022), https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/06/california-cement-carbon-climate/.

[11] Id.

[12] Id.

[13] Jeff St. John, Fortera Lands $85M to Scale Up Low-Carbon Cement, Canary Media (Aug. 20, 2024), https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/clean-industry/fortera-lands-85m-to-scale-up-low-carbon-cement.