Maryland
Governor
Wes Moore (Democrat)
House Party
Democratic Supermajority
Senate Party
Democratic Supermajority
Key Offices & Links
41
21
Southeast
Progress by Policy Area
- Enacted Enacted policies have been passed or established in a state by a governing body via legislation, executive orders, rules, regulations, and/or other program creation, and remain in effect.
- In-progress In progress policies have been established in a state, but final regulations, rules, or plans are pending final approval. This also includes legislation and executive orders that require regulations to be put into effect.
- Partially Enacted Partially enacted policies have been enacted in the state, but are missing one or more policy components. Dashboard policies cannot be considered partially enacted unless policy components are available.
- Not Enacted Not enacted policies have not been passed or established in the state or are no longer in effect.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions Projections in Maryland
Climate Policies in Maryland
Status | Policy | Policy Area | Policy Category | Year Enacted | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Enacted |
Climate Governance and Equity
|
Climate Governance | 2022 | ||
Empty column | 60% by 2031 | Net-zero by 2045 Relative to 2006 levels | Establishing Policies
| |||
Enacted |
Climate Governance and Equity
|
Climate Governance | 2023 | ||
Empty column | Maryland’s Climate Pollution Reduction Plan The Maryland Climate Change Subcabinet is required to submit an annual report detailing the progress of implementing Maryland's Climate Pollution Reduction Plan and state agency Climate Implementation Plans, starting December 1, 2024. | ||||
Enacted |
Climate Governance and Equity
|
Climate Governance | 2022 | ||
Empty column | The 2006-2020 Greenhouse Gas Inventory was published in September 2022. | Establishing Policies
| |||
Enacted |
Climate Governance and Equity
|
Climate Governance | 2024 | ||
Empty column | Climate Change Subcabinet Chief Sustainability Officer | Establishing Policies
| |||
Enacted |
Climate Governance and Equity
|
Climate Governance | 2015 | ||
Empty column | Maryland Commission on Climate Change | Establishing Policies
| |||
Enacted |
Climate Governance and Equity
|
Environmental Justice and Equity | 2022 | ||
Empty column | "Overburdened communities" are the 25% highest scoring census tracts in 3 or more of 21 environmental health indicators, related to pollution exposure, proximity to environmental hazards, and health outcomes. "Underserved communities" are census tracts where at least 25% of residents are low-income, 50% are nonwhite, or 15% have limited English proficiency | Establishing Policies
| |||
Enacted |
Climate Governance and Equity
|
Environmental Justice and Equity | 2021 | ||
Empty column | MD EJSCREEN MD Climate and Health Equity Mapper | Establishing Policies
| |||
Not Enacted |
Climate Governance and Equity
|
Environmental Justice and Equity | |||
Empty column | Environmental justice (EJ) community investment requirements help ensure communities most impacted by environmental burdens are benefitting equitably from public programs by requiring a certain percentage of funds and/or benefits from other policies are allocated to EJ communities. | ||||
Enacted |
Climate Governance and Equity
|
Environmental Justice and Equity | 2022 | ||
Empty column | MDE – EJ Coordinator The Climate Solutions Now Act of 2022 also requires the Maryland Department of Environment to provide staff for the Commission on Environmental Justice and Sustainable Communities | Establishing Policies
| |||
Enacted |
Climate Governance and Equity
|
Environmental Justice and Equity | |||
Empty column | Commission on Environmental Justice and Sustainable Communities | Establishing Policies
| |||
Not Enacted |
Climate Governance and Equity
|
Environmental Justice and Equity | |||
Empty column | Cumulative impact assessments determine the health and environmental impacts of renewing or granting a permit for certain pollution-generating facilities in environmental justice communities. Increased pollution burdens in communities may result in the permit application being denied. | ||||
Not Enacted |
Climate Governance and Equity
|
Just Transition | |||
Empty column | Just transition plans are documents that outline policies and recommendations aimed at supporting communities, workers, and industries affected by the transition away from fossil fuels. The plans often focus on workforce development and retraining, job creation, and economic diversification. | ||||
Not Enacted |
Climate Governance and Equity
|
Just Transition | |||
Empty column | Just transition offices and staff assist workers and communities transitioning away from fossil fuel extraction and use, typically through retraining programs and support with relocation and economic diversification. Offices and staff also coordinate with other state agencies to effectively design policy to achieve a just transition. | ||||
Enacted |
Climate Governance and Equity
|
Just Transition | 2022 | ||
Empty column | Just Transition Employment and Retraining Working Group | ||||
Not Enacted |
Climate Governance and Equity
|
Just Transition | |||
Empty column | Just transition funds support initiatives and investments aimed at facilitating the equitable transition of workers and communities affected by shifts in industries or policies that transition from fossil fuels. | ||||
Enacted |
Cross-Sector
|
Climate Finance | 2008 | ||
Empty column | Maryland Clean Energy Center, which administers the Climate Catalytic Capital Fund | Establishing Policies
| |||
Enacted |
Cross-Sector
|
Carbon Valuation | 2007 | ||
Empty column | The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) covers the electricity sector. | Establishing Policies
| |||
Not Enacted |
Cross-Sector
|
Carbon Valuation | |||
Empty column | The social cost of carbon is a monetary estimate of the damage of each ton of greenhouse gases emitted. The social cost of carbon is used to quantify and monetize climate damages, representing the net economic cost of climate pollution to society. | ||||
Enacted |
Electricity
|
Energy Plans and Targets | 2019 | ||
Empty column | 30.5% renewable energy by 2020 | 50% by 2030 Executive Order 01.01.2024.19 directs the Maryland Energy Administration to "establish a framework for a clean energy standard to achieve 100% clean electricity in Maryland by 2035." | Establishing Policies
| |||
Not Enacted |
Electricity
|
Energy Plans and Targets | |||
Empty column | Electricity greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets are set by a state to limit GHG emissions in the electricity sector. These targets aim to reduce emissions by different amounts over time, often expressed as percentage relative to a baseline year. | ||||
Not Enacted |
Electricity
|
Energy Plans and Targets | |||
Empty column | Clean energy plans are documents that outline the policies and strategies states can implement to meet clean energy targets. Draft plans are often published first, and after a period of public comments and revisions, a final plan is released. | ||||
Enacted |
Electricity
|
Clean Energy Generation | |||
Empty column | The State Policy Opportunity Tracker (SPOT) breaks clean energy policies down into “components”, which are binary questions to evaluate policy quality. Higher quality policies have more of their SPOT components fulfilled. | Establishing Policies
| Policy Components
5/5
| ||
Partially Enacted |
Electricity
|
Clean Energy Generation | |||
Empty column | The State Policy Opportunity Tracker (SPOT) breaks clean energy policies down into “components”, which are binary questions to evaluate policy quality. Higher quality policies have more of their SPOT components fulfilled. | Establishing Policies
| Policy Components
9/11
| ||
Partially Enacted |
Electricity
|
Clean Energy Generation | |||
Empty column | The State Policy Opportunity Tracker (SPOT) breaks clean energy policies down into “components”, which are binary questions to evaluate policy quality. Higher quality policies have more of their SPOT components fulfilled. | Establishing Policies
| Policy Components
5/6
| ||
Enacted |
Electricity
|
Clean Energy Generation | 2021 | ||
Empty column | Maryland has an active community choice aggregation program. | Establishing Policies
| |||
Enacted |
Electricity
|
Transmission, Distribution, and Energy Storage | 2023 | ||
Empty column | 750 megawatts (MW) of storage capacity by 2027, 1,500 MW by 2030, and 3,000 MW by 2033 | Establishing Policies
| |||
Enacted |
Electricity
|
Transmission, Distribution, and Energy Storage | 2023 | ||
Empty column | Maryland received a C grade from Freeing the Grid. | Establishing Policies
| |||
Not Enacted |
Electricity
|
Coal Retirement | |||
Empty column | Coal phaseouts establish a target year by which states must end coal-fired power generation. | ||||
Not Enacted |
Electricity
|
Coal Retirement | |||
Empty column | Coal securitization is a financing tool that allows utility companies to refinance debt they issued to build coal plants and close the facilities early without taking a financial hit or passing costs on to ratepayers. | ||||
Enacted |
Buildings and Efficiency
|
Building Codes | 2023 | ||
Empty column | The statewide energy code for residential construction is 2021 IECC with amendments. | Establishing Policies
| |||
Enacted |
Buildings and Efficiency
|
Building Codes | 2023 | ||
Empty column | The statewide energy code for commercial building construction is 2021 IECC with amendments and ASHRAE 90.1-2019. | Establishing Policies
| |||
Not Enacted |
Buildings and Efficiency
|
Building Codes | |||
Empty column | Stretch building energy codes are an optional, more stringent building code established by the state that local jurisdictions can adopt to require that newly constructed buildings are more efficient than the baseline state codes. | ||||
Enacted |
Buildings and Efficiency
|
Building Standards | 2022 | ||
Empty column | The Energy and Water Efficiency Standards apply to 11 products. | Establishing Policies
| |||
Enacted |
Buildings and Efficiency
|
Building Standards | 2024 | ||
Empty column | The Building Energy Performance Standard requires buildings larger than 35,000 square feet to reduce direct emissions from buildings by 20% by 2030, and to achieve net-zero emissions by 2040. | ||||
In-Progress |
Buildings and Efficiency
|
Building Standards | 2024 | ||
Empty column | The Maryland Department of the Environment is required to propose a clean heat standard regulation. | Establishing Policies
| |||
Enacted |
Buildings and Efficiency
|
Building Efficiency | 2024 | ||
Empty column | Electric utilities are required to achieve a greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction equivalent of annual electricity savings of 2% in 2024, 2.24% in 2025 and 2026, and 2.5% for each year after that. Utilities must achieve annual energy savings for low-income residential units for the 2024-2026 EmPOWER cycle, starting at 0.53% in 2024 and increasing to 1.0% in 2026. Gas utilities are not subject to an EERS. | Establishing Policies
| |||
Enacted |
Buildings and Efficiency
|
Building Efficiency | 2014 | ||
Empty column | Maryland has enacted commercial PACE-enabling legislation and has active programs. | Establishing Policies
| |||
Partially Enacted |
Buildings and Efficiency
|
Building Efficiency | |||
Empty column | The State Policy Opportunity Tracker (SPOT) breaks clean energy policies down into “components”, which are binary questions to evaluate policy quality. Higher quality policies have more of their SPOT components fulfilled. | Establishing Policies
| Policy Components
3/4
| ||
In-Progress |
Buildings and Efficiency
|
Building Electrification | 2024 | ||
Empty column | The Maryland Department of the Environment is required to propose a zero-emission heating equipment standard that will phase-in zero-emissions standards for heating equipment. | Establishing Policies
| |||
Enacted |
Transportation
|
Light-Duty Vehicles | 2023 | ||
Empty column | Maryland Clean Cars Program | Establishing Policies
| |||
Enacted |
Transportation
|
Light-Duty Vehicles | 2023 | ||
Empty column | Model Year (MY) 2027: 43% of new passenger vehicle sales are ZEVs | MY 2030: 68% of new sales are ZEVs | MY 2035: 100% of new sales are ZEVs, with up to 20% being hybrid or hydrogen-powered vehicles. | Establishing Policies
| |||
Not Enacted |
Transportation
|
Light-Duty Vehicles | |||
Empty column | Electric vehicle rebates offer rebates to make light-duty electric vehicles more affordable to increase their adoption in a state. | ||||
Not Enacted |
Transportation
|
Medium- and Heavy-Duty Vehicles | |||
Empty column | Low NOx Omnibus Rules establish stringent tailpipe emission standards for heavy duty vehicles, updated testing procedures, and technology-neutral compliance mechanisms to reduce nitrous oxide (NOx) pollution. The regulation must be adopted first by California, and other states may adopt the regulation under the federal Clean Air Act. | ||||
Enacted |
Transportation
|
Medium- and Heavy-Duty Vehicles | 2023 | ||
Empty column | By 2035: 55% of Class 2b-3 truck sales are zero-emissions | 75% of Class 4-8 straight truck sales are zero-emissions | 40% of Class 7-8 tractor sales are zero-emissions. | Establishing Policies
| |||
Enacted |
Transportation
|
Medium- and Heavy-Duty Vehicles | 2022 | ||
Empty column | The Medium-Duty and Heavy-Duty Zero-Emission Vehicle Grant Program provides grants to cover up to 75% of the incremental cost of new medium- and heavy-duty battery and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. | Establishing Policies
| |||
Enacted |
Transportation
|
Lead by Example | 2022 | ||
Empty column | 100% of the state's passenger vehicle fleet are ZEVs by 2031, and 100% of the state's light-duty vehicle fleet are ZEVs by 2036 | Establishing Policies
| |||
Enacted |
Transportation
|
Lead by Example | 2024 | ||
Empty column | 25% of annual bus procurements by the Maryland Transit Administration are zero-emission by FY25 | Establishing Policies
| |||
Enacted |
Transportation
|
EV Charging Infrastructure | 2023 | ||
Empty column | Requires that new construction of detached single-family homes, duplexes, and townhouses with a separate garage or driveway have one parking space that is EV-ready or has EV supply equipment (EVSE) installed. | Establishing Policies
| |||
Enacted |
Transportation
|
EV Charging Infrastructure | |||
Empty column | The Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) Rebate Program offers rebates for the purchase and installation of Level 2 and direct current (DC) fast chargers, up to $700 for residential chargers and up to $5,000 for commercial chargers. | Establishing Policies
| |||
Not Enacted |
Transportation
|
Transportation Plans and Targets | |||
Empty column | Electric vehicle (EV) and EV charging infrastructure plans are documents that provide a framework to guide the development, coordination, and adoption of EVs and EV charging infrastructure. | ||||
In-Progress |
Transportation
|
Transportation Plans and Targets | 2024 | ||
Empty column | The Maryland Department of Transportation is required to establish specific annual greenhouse gas and vehicle miles traveled reduction targets for the transportation sector. | Establishing Policies
| |||
Not Enacted |
Transportation
|
Transportation Plans and Targets | |||
Empty column | A low carbon fuel standard (LCFS) is a market-based mechanism to reduce the carbon intensity of transportation fuels and account for the fuel's life cycle greenhouse gas emissions. | ||||
Enacted |
Transportation
|
Public and Active Transportation | |||
Empty column | Maryland is ranked 9th out of 50 in the 2024 Bicycle Friendly State rankings by the League of American Bicyclists. | Establishing Policies
| Policy Components
5/5
| ||
Not Enacted |
Industry, Materials, and Waste Management
|
Industrial Decarbonization | |||
Empty column | Buy clean requirements mandate or incentivize the use of low-carbon construction materials, such as concrete and steel, in public projects to address embodied carbon. | ||||
Enacted |
Industry, Materials, and Waste Management
|
F-gas Regulations | 2020 | ||
Empty column | The state prohibits certain HFCs in specific stationary refrigeration and air-conditioning end-uses. | Establishing Policies
| |||
Not Enacted |
Industry, Materials, and Waste Management
|
F-gas Regulations | |||
Empty column | Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) regulations include phasedown commitments, reporting requirements, bans, or other measures that reduce SF6 usage and emissions. | ||||
Enacted |
Industry, Materials, and Waste Management
|
Oil and Gas Regulations | 2020 | ||
Empty column | Operators must reduce vented and fugitive emissions of methane from both new and existing natural gas transmission and storage facilities. | Establishing Policies
| |||
Enacted |
Industry, Materials, and Waste Management
|
Oil and Gas Regulations | 2017 | ||
Empty column | Hydraulic fracking for the exploration and production of natural gas is banned. | Establishing Policies
| |||
Enacted |
Industry, Materials, and Waste Management
|
Waste Management | 2023 | ||
Empty column | Reporting and control of methane emissions from municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills are required. | Establishing Policies
| |||
Enacted |
Industry, Materials, and Waste Management
|
Waste Management | 2021 | ||
Empty column | Food waste ban – The state requires businesses and institutions that generate at least 2 tons of food waste per week to dispose of food residuals via composting or anaerobic digestion. | Establishing Policies
| |||
Enacted |
Natural and Working Lands
|
Agriculture | 2017 | ||
Empty column | The Maryland Healthy Soils Program provides financial assistance to manage conservation practices in new and innovative ways that improve soil health, yield, and profitability and capture carbon. Maryland's Cover Crop Program offers grants to help pay for seed, labor, and equipment costs to plant cover crops. | Establishing Policies
| |||
Not Enacted |
Natural and Working Lands
|
Agriculture | |||
Empty column | Agriculture technical assistance programs provide state-driven technical assistance, apprenticeship and mentorship programs, and support securing additional funding for farmers to increase uptake of soil health practices. |