“To reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect the climate.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section cites the Act as the "Climate Solutions Act of 2025" and sets forth its table of contents.
This section states congressional findings on climate change, including an objective to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 50 to 52 percent below 2005 levels by 2030 to stabilize atmospheric concentrations and limit global mean surface temperature increase to 2°C (3.6°F) above preindustrial levels by 2100, consistent with the Paris Agreement. The findings cite risks of exceeding 2°C (e.g., Greenland ice sheet melt raising sea levels 23 feet), Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projections for net-zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050 to limit warming to 1.5°C, observed U.S. impacts (e.g., heat waves, wildfires, droughts), projections of species extinctions, the U.S. share of global emissions (11.5 percent), and benefits of renewable energy and efficiency technologies.
This section establishes a national renewable energy standard requiring the Secretary of Energy to promulgate regulations such that the percentage of electric energy generated from renewable sources sold at the retail level in the United States increases each year beginning in calendar year 2026 and reaches at least 100% in calendar year 2035 and each year thereafter. The Secretary must consult with the EPA Administrator, and the standard does not preempt or limit state actions to enhance renewable energy generation or energy efficiency.
This section establishes a national energy efficiency standard under a new section 611 of Title VI of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA), as amended. It requires the Secretary of Energy, in consultation with the EPA Administrator, to promulgate regulations setting cumulative annual end-user electricity savings targets for retail electric energy suppliers and natural gas savings targets for retail natural gas suppliers, achieved through efficiency improvements at customer facilities and measured as a percentage of the quantity sold to retail customers in the most recent year (with each year's savings in addition to prior years). For calendar years 2026 through 2032, the targets are: (1) electricity savings of 0.375% in 2026, increasing to 11.25% in 2032; and (2) natural gas savings of 0.25% in 2026, increasing to 4.05% in 2032. The Secretary may increase targets after 2032 upon petition or initiative and must allow suppliers to meet targets via a market-based trading system. The section does not preempt or limit state actions to enhance renewable energy generation or energy efficiency. It also makes conforming amendments to the PURPA table of contents.
This section directs the EPA Administrator to promulgate annual net greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets for calendar years 2030 through 2050, not later than one year after enactment of this Act, to ensure U.S. net emissions are at least 52% below 2005 levels in 2035 and zero in 2050.
This section directs the Administrator to enter into an arrangement with the National Academies (or a similar entity if they decline) for a report to the Administrator and Congress, due not later than 5 years after enactment and every 5 years thereafter, assessing prospects for avoiding dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system and progress to date. The report must (1) evaluate whether net emissions reduction targets under section 301 and related U.S. policies—including those in this Act, its amendments, and the Clean Air Act—are sufficient to avoid such interference, accounting for other nations' actions; and (2) if insufficient, identify required further reductions in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations and recommend additional U.S. and international actions.
This section requires the EPA Administrator to promulgate, not later than seven years after enactment, final regulations implementing the net greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets established under section 301 of this Act and, at least every five years thereafter, to review and revise those regulations as necessary based on reports under section 302. It further requires the head of any federal department or agency receiving a National Academies recommendation under section 302 for regulatory action within that agency's authority to finalize, within two years, a rulemaking implementing the action or explaining the reasons for declining to act. The section authorizes such regulations to impose additional greenhouse gas emissions requirements on any source or sector—including market-based measures, emissions or efficiency performance standards, best management practices, and technology-based requirements—and, for sources subject to state plans under CAA section 111(d) (i.e., existing sources of certain pollutants), to account for those plans' compliance schedules. Finally, this section specifies that the regulatory authority provided is in addition to existing authorities under other laws.
This section establishes definitions for this title, including (1) "greenhouse gas," meaning carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, sulfur hexafluoride, or any other anthropogenically emitted gas determined by the Administrator (after notice and comment) to contribute to global warming to a non-negligible degree; and (2) "United States net greenhouse gas emissions," meaning net greenhouse gas emissions as calculated annually by the Administrator and reported to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Secretariat.