As climate focus shifts to states, East Coast partnership offers model for multi-state collaboration

Moldova used government regulations and local installations of solar panels and biomass systems to respond to the Russia energy crisis, empowering local communities to create their own renewable energy cooperatives. These have helped increase the nation's renewable energy from 3% to 25% and reduce heating electricity costs in participating towns.

Several nonprofits are running a solar cooperative in El Paso, Texas, that helps homeowners come together to buy and install solar panels in bulk, which makes them more affordable.

States across the United States are passing legislation that supports the development of community solar programs. These projects allow community members who can’t install their own solar panels to subscribe to other solar projects nearby, often on farms, schools, or stores. Alongside the property owner, subscribers help fund the project and save money on future electricity bills based on the power generated.

An activist organization in Poland, Krakow Smog Alarm, teaches people about poor air quality in their city and helps them organize together to lobby their local governments for effective clean air measures.

The town of Ithaca is working with its local gas utility and area homeowners to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by removing gas pipes from homes and businesses by switching them over to electricity, primarily from renewable sources. While the transition is a long process, the town expects to achieve about a 30% reduction in emissions in the next year.

Local governments in France are educating residents about waste reduction and finding ways to incentivize the behavior change necessary to meet the country’s ambitious zero-waste goals. Roubaix, for example, teaches residents simple lifestyle changes that will also save them money. Whereas, Smicval transitioned from door-to-door waste collection to a central collection point where residents drop off trash themselves.

Virtual power plants are emerging in the United States and partnering with utility companies to manage energy demand during extreme weather and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. These plants are actually a portfolio of energy resources, anything from smart appliances in homes to solar panels and electric vehicle infrastructure outside of homes, that are tracked and managed digitally. This enables virtual power plants to encourage minimal peak energy use, increase the amount of renewable energy sent back to the grid, and decrease the use of peaker power plants that rely on fossil fuels.

The SunZia project (a 916-turbine, 550-mile transmission wind energy system in New Mexico) now delivers up to 3.65 gigawatts of clean electricity to Arizona and California. Since testing began in April 2026, it's already driven record-breaking wind power generation five times on California's grid.

The City of Louisville launched a multi-agency Critical Infrastructure Task Force and passed a city ordinance that regulates secondary metals recyclers, resulting in a 90% drop in copper wire theft incidents for AT&T Kentucky and an ~80% reduction in fiber line cuts for Spectrum between 2024 and 2025.

The Hong Kong Feed-in Tariff (FiT) Scheme is an ongoing government program that incentivizes rooftop solar adoption by allowing individuals and organizations to sell solar-generated electricity back to utility companies at rates higher than what customers pay for regular electricity.