Modeling Maryland’s Climate and Clean Energy Goals and Investment Requirements
March 28, 2024 — CCS unveiled its latest report assessing Maryland's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions trends and the potential for actions in all sectors to reach ambitious climate and clean energy goals, deliver energy and financial savings, and mobilize investment at scale. This pivotal report and toolkit present a comprehensive, detailed, and state of the art model of current and future GHG emissions in Maryland and the potential for modern technologies, practices, and infrastructure investments to meet short- and long-term climate mitigation and clean energy goals, including the 2031 Climate Solutions Now Act, 2035 Clean Energy Goal, 2035 and 2040 Renewable Portfolio Standard, and 2045 and 2050 Net Zero goals.
Results show robust potential for the state to meet goals and provide significant economic and energy benefits, as well as the dramatic importance of sustained investment at scale through state, federal, and private sources. It demonstrates exceptionally large potential for energy savings to finance new policy implementation -- with an estimated two thirds of all program investment being returned through financial savings.
The report also examines the critical role of electrification in Maryland’s energy and economic future through the combined effects of renewable generation expansion and shifts to electrification of end use activities. In the process, the assessment identifies specific challenges related to timely program action, capacity expansion, and supportive policies, budgets, and investments.
The project provides a multi-faceted analysis toolkit for future collaboration on policy design and implementation in Maryland, including state and local budgets and financing, targeting of investments to low-income and disadvantaged communities, and effective monitoring of Maryland's climate and energy initiatives – all from the perspective of a detailed and comprehensive state energy system.
CCS's analysis is powered by the Low Emissions Analysis Platform (LEAP) and complemented by the CCS GHG Strategy Tool, both of which have been applied globally. The LEAP model is the world’s most widely applied energy model with over 46,000 users in 192 countries and has been applied by CCS in multiple regions of the world. The assessment is sponsored by the Maryland Energy Foundation.
Technical Appendix - Maryland LEAP Model Structure, Modeling Approach, and Data Sources
