States pledge new actions to phase out gas use amid calls to electrify buildings

A coalition of governors from 25 US states and territories pledged to pursue policies to decarbonize buildings as a group of electricity companies said urgent action is needed to ramp up electrification.

During Climate Week NYC, members of the US Climate Alliance said they would aim to collectively quadruple the number of electric heat pumps installed across the 25 states and territories by 2030, with a goal of reaching 20 million units. More than half of the members also committed to pursuing policies that would phase out natural gas and other fossil fuel use in the building sector.

"We are in a climate emergency and the window to act is closing. US Climate Alliance states get that. That's why we're taking bold, immediate action," alliance co-chair and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said in a Sept. 21 news release with Maine Gov. Janet Mills, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and White House National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi.

Inslee's view reflected the assessment of the Global Sustainable Electricity Partnership (GSEP), which launched its second annual Global Electrification Monitor on Sept. 25. The report found that the pace of electrification must more than double in the coming decades for the global energy sector to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Electrification of end uses remains a vastly underutilized pathway around the world, according to GSEP.

While the US has a high level of electrification in buildings, electric space heating accounted for just 13.3% of energy consumption for residential buildings and 5.5% in service sector buildings in 2020, according to the 2023 report. Action to electrify building end uses strongly needs to accelerate, GSEP said.

For the US Climate Alliance to meet its heat pump installation goal "in a timely and equitable," its members need to develop complementary policies to leverage Inflation Reduction Act funds, ensure electrification is affordable and align regulations with building decarbonization, sustainability group RMI said in a Sept. 21 blog post.

To that effect, 14 of the alliance members pledged to pursue several policies.

Zero-emission standard

Ten governors said they would consider adopting zero-emission standards for space and water heating and cooling equipment. The policy would functionally phase out the sale of gas heating equipment as residents and businesses replace end-of-life equipment.

Combusting fuels at high heat results in emissions of nitrogen oxides, or NOx, a group of health-harming gases. Electric heat pumps, which condition warmth from the air or geothermal resources, do not combust fuel on site to provide heat.

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District in March approved a first-in-the-nation standard requiring small gas furnaces and water heaters sold after 2027 to achieve zero NOx emissions. The California Air Resources Board voted in 2022 to develop a zero-emission standard for space and water heaters as part of a suite of policies to reduce emissions responsible for ground-level ozone.

Building performance standard

Eight governors pledged to explore implementing building performance standards, following the example of Colorado, Maryland, Oregon and Washington. The policy establishes an energy efficiency or emissions reduction target for existing buildings that gets more stringent over time, requiring continuous intervention.

Building owners can hit the targets through a range of pathways, but policymakers can nudge owners toward electrification. New York City recently proposed offering a credit through 2029 to owners who achieve their target by installing heat pumps.

Clean heat standard

Eight governors committed to studying clean heat standards, which require fossil fuel distributors to take actions to lower emissions that result from combusting the products they sell, known as Scope 3 emissions. Those actions can include electrification, demand-side management and procuring low-carbon fuels.

Vermont lawmakers passed legislation establishing a clean heat standard in May, while Colorado is now implementing its standard. The first gas utility operator to file a clean heat plan in Colorado, Xcel Energy Inc., has asked regulators for flexibility, saying it will be difficult to achieve near-term emissions reduction targets within budget.

Phase out fossil fuels in new construction

Just five governors said they would work to phase out fossil fuel heating and cooling in new construction by 2027, even as the policy continues to advance at the local level. A US appellate court opinion has raised legal questions about the policy, causing some policymakers to take pause.

New York and Washington are already on pace to restrict gas use in new buildings. California is home to most of the nation's local gas bans, while the policy is gaining traction in Maryland. The pledge will likely encourage electrification backers in Massachusetts, where the state has limited authority to prohibit gas use to a 10-community pilot program.

Several governors in the climate alliance lead states that have outlawed gas bans: Arizona, Louisiana and North Carolina. Democratic Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers vetoed a bill to that effect in August.

Advance building codes

Nearly half of the alliance members — 12 in total — said they would support adopting building codes that "maximize opportunities for efficient electrification and support solar and electric vehicle readiness."

Support for electrification in building codes can include explicit restrictions on gas use; voluntary stretch codes that exceed the base code; and requirements that buildings have sufficient electric capacity to accommodate future electrification.

The relatively high level of support for this strategy showed that policymakers continue to view periodic building code updates as fertile ground for decarbonization efforts.

Align utility resource planning with climate goals

Finally, 10 alliance members said they would take actions to "align buildings-sector utility resource planning and procurement policies with state climate goals."

The pledge reflected the rise of so-called future of gas proceedings at public utility commissions that seek to reform long-term gas system planning and forecasting with pledges by states to reduce emissions. Several of the states that made this commitment have already launched such proceedings, with some seeking to strategically retire parts of the gas grid.

Eleven alliance members did not announce pledges to explore new policies: Arizona, Delaware, Guam, Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, Vermont and Wisconsin. However, some of those jurisdictions have enacted or pursued policies to decarbonize buildings.

Some states — California, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island — said they would consider five or six of the policies. It is possible that these states will implement several overlapping policies, but multiple pledges might also indicate that some states have not settled on a primary building decarbonization strategy.

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