Northeast

New Jersey

New Jersey is more densely populated with both people and roads than any other state in the country, contributing to the transportation sector’s majority share of emissions in the state. New Jersey imports nearly 20% of its power from neighboring states, and since 2011, more than 90% of in-state generation has come from natural gas and nuclear energy. Greenhouse gas emissions in the state have dropped by 22% from 2006-2022.
GHG Reduction Targets
All targets relative to 2006 levels
2030
50%
2050
80%
Governor
Phil Murphy (Democrat)
House Party
Democratic Majority
Senate Party
Democratic Majority
Legislative session
1/14/25 - 12/31/25
US Climate Alliance Status
Member

37

Policies Enacted or In Progress
across 6 policy areas

30

Policy Opportunities
across 7 policy areas

Northeast

9 states
This map shows the occurrence of climate policies passed at the state-level. Higher numbers represent more climate policies enacted.

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  • Not Enacted Not enacted policies have not been passed or established in the state or are no longer in effect.
Glossary of Terms
The colored bars indicate the status for each policy on the Dashboard, viewed across seven policy areas.
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Greenhouse Gas Emissions Projections in New Jersey

Created in partnership with

Climate Policies in New Jersey

Filters
Status Policy Policy Area Policy Category Year Enacted
Enacted
Empty column

50% renewable energy by 2030 | 100% clean electricity by 2035

Electricity
Energy Plans and Targets 2023
Not Enacted
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.

Electricity
Energy Plans and Targets
Enacted
Empty column

2019 New Jersey Energy Master Plan: Pathway to 2050

Electricity
Energy Plans and Targets 2020
Not Enacted
Empty column

States can establish some form of statewide, consolidated siting and permitting entity — typically a council or board — for renewables and/or transmission to streamline project review and prevent uncertainty in the face of local governments’ restrictions or prohibitions of renewable generation or transmission.

Electricity
Permitting and Grid Integration
Enacted
Empty column

New Jersey received a D grade from Freeing the Grid.

Electricity
Permitting and Grid Integration 2023
Not Enacted
Empty column

Advanced transmission technologies (ATTs) and grid enhancing technologies (GETs) are a family of technologies that can enhance the capacity of the existing electrical transmission and distribution system. State policies that promote ATTs and GETs can be key to unlocking renewable energy development at lower cost and with shorter wait times.

Electricity
Permitting and Grid Integration
Partially Enacted
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.

Policy Components
enacted
enacted
enacted
not-enacted
enacted
not-enacted
enacted
not-enacted
not-enacted
not-enacted
not-enacted
5/11
Electricity
Permitting and Grid Integration
Partially Enacted
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.

Policy Components
enacted
enacted
enacted
enacted
not-enacted
enacted
5/6
Electricity
Incentivizing Clean Energy Resources
Enacted
Empty column

New Jersey has an active community choice aggregation program.

Establishing Policies
Electricity
Incentivizing Clean Energy Resources 2003
Enacted
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.

Policy Components
enacted
enacted
enacted
enacted
enacted
5/5
Electricity
Incentivizing Clean Energy Resources
Enacted
Empty column

600 megawatts (MW) of energy storage by 2021 and 2,000 MW by 2030

Establishing Policies
Electricity
Incentivizing Clean Energy Resources 2018
Enacted
Empty column

The Board of Public Utilities (BPU) approved a petition filed by Atlantic City Electric Company (ACE) that modified Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) and Power Sales Agreements (PSAs) between ACE and the state's last two coal-fired electricity generation units. Under the agreements, coal-fired generation ended after a brief transition period.

Electricity
Coal Retirement 2022
Not Enacted
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.

Electricity
Coal Retirement

The State Climate Policy Dashboard tracks only passed policies and does not include bills currently proposed in legislative sessions. The website is intended to illustrate the current status of policies for each state, as well as key resources and model states for each policy.

Much of the information contained in this database is derived from the public domain, with links to resources provided. The information provided is made available solely for general information purposes and does not constitute legal advice. Click here for full Terms of Use.

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