Li's Research Examines the Environmental Benefits of Strong Renewable Energy Policies

Qingran Li, assistant professor of economics, recently had an article published in Energy Economics —“Cleaner bills, cleaner air: The environmental co-benefits of stringent renewable portfolio standards policy design."

In this study, Li and her co-authors examined how differences in renewable energy policy design influence environmental outcomes. 

Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) are widely used by U.S. states to promote electricity generation from renewable sources. However, these policies vary considerably in how they are designed and enforced. Some include features such as credit multipliers, exemptions, or voluntary targets that may weaken the policy’s effectiveness.

Their found that stringently designed and enforced RPS policies produce substantially larger environmental benefits. These differences arise because stronger policies lead to larger shifts in the electricity generation mix, including greater declines in coal and oil generation and more growth in cleaner energy sources. These policy design differences also have important public health implications. The authors estimate that discrepancies in RPS policy design have led to forgone annual health co-benefits of $12–22 billion from reduced SO₂ and NOₓ emissions.

The findings highlight an important lesson for policymakers: the design and enforcement of renewable energy policies play a critical role in determining their environmental and health benefits.