Featuring: Michael Greenstone, director of EPIC and Milton Friedman Distinguished Service Professor in Economics; Melanie Kenderdine, a principal at Energy Futures Initiative and former director of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Policy and Systems Analysis; and McKie Campbell, managing partner of BlueWater Strategies LLC and former staff director of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Moderated by: Amy Harder, energy reporter at Axios.

In the absence of a comprehensive, national climate policy, many state governments have implemented their own policies aimed at reducing emissions within their borders. Renewable portfolio standards (or RPS) are perhaps the best-known of these policies, requiring that a certain minimum percentage of a state’s electricity come from solar, wind, and other renewable sources. Advocates argue that such standards can reduce carbon emissions and offer consumers more choice. But there have been long-standing questions about the precise impact of these policies on electricity rates and their overall efficiency as a climate policy. Do portfolio standards increase electricity rates? By how much, and through what means? And how cost-effective are they as an emissions reduction strategy?

Join EPIC and our panel of experts as we announce new, cutting-edge research that sheds light on these and other questions and discuss the economic and climate impacts of renewable portfolio standards.

This event is part of EPIC’s Energy Inquiry & Impact Series, designed to explore the latest energy data coming out of the University of Chicago and their impacts on policy discussions. Cutting-edge findings will serve as the launching pad to frame these deep-dive conversations, as researchers and EPIC policy fellows navigate ways to translate research into solutions.