State Economic Power Project Resources
The State Economic Power Project Report has been released!
State lawmakers have the power to grow their local economies and lower household bills while addressing the climate crisis. Inside this report, you will find concrete policy recommendations for taking on the affordability and climate crises with smart approaches to green banks, pension fund management, insurance regulation, disaster recovery and management policy, and state banking supervision.
Stay in the loop!
Sign up for updates on the State Economic Power project, including upcoming events and report releases.
Chapter Summaries
Introduction: Chapters 1-3
Introduction, Tapping the Enormous Opportunities of the Energy Transition, and Protecting People and Communities from Climate-Related Economic Harms
These first three chapters provide the intellectual foundation for why states must exercise their power to navigate both the clean energy transition and growing climate-related financial risks, especially as federal action retreats. These chapters detail the economic opportunities of clean energy, the market forces propelling the transition, and the emerging insurance and financial crises already harming communities. Together, these chapters establish the urgency for state policymakers to act decisively to safeguard their economies and protect residents.
Green Banks and Other State Financial Instrumentalities
Recommendations for Seizing the Economic Opportunity for the Clean Energy Transition - Part 1
This chapter provides policy recommendations for how states can seize the economic benefits of the clean energy transition by mobilizing their own capital and shaping markets through green banks and other financing instrumentalities.
State and Local Pension Plans
Recommendations for Seizing the Economic Opportunity for the Clean Energy Transition - Part 2
This chapter provides policy recommendations for how state and local pension plans can use their enormous economic influence to accelerate the clean energy transition while protecting beneficiaries from systemic climate risk.
Property Insurance Regulation
State Policy Recommendations for Protecting Against Financial Threats from Climate Change - Part 1
This chapter provides policy recommendations for how states can strengthen insurance regulation and better incorporate climate risks.
Disaster Readiness and Recovery Reforms
State Policy Recommendations for Protecting Against Financial Threats from Climate Change - Part 2
This chapter provides policy recommendations for how states can bolster climate resilience and improve disaster preparedness in the face of a federal retreat.
State Banking Regulator Reforms
State Policy Recommendations for Protecting Against Financial Threats from Climate Change - Part 3
The chapter provides policy recommendations for how states can strengthen banking regulation to monitor climate-related risks from state-chartered financial institutions.
Additional Resources
Strengthening State Oversight Over Surplus Lines
This report explains what surplus lines insurance is and how it’s regulated differently from standard policies, why its rapid growth threatens affordability for consumers, state budgets, and affordable housing providers and tenants, and outlines policy recommendations to strengthen state oversight.
Resilient States Start with Resilient Homes:
As state policymakers take action to address the affordability and availability of insurance, one popular intervention has been resilient home programs, which offer grants to residents for home hardening and roof fortification. This report examines the landscape of roof fortification programs, reviews lessons learned, and outlines a set of 19 policy principles for state policymakers looking to design new programs or improve existing ones.
Climate Risk and State Insurance Policy:
2025 in Review
Climate change is driving major disruption in insurance markets – reducing the availability and affordability of property insurance policies throughout the United States. Insurance market disruptions are also leading to higher costs for homeowners and renters alike, while contributing to rising inflation and harming the broader economy. This report offers a survey of state governmental responses to the climate-driven insurance crisis across the United States, highlighting the best ways to promote financial stability and shield constituents from rising costs. By reviewing the wide range of policies adopted by different states in 2025, policymakers across the country have the opportunity to learn from other states’ successes and avoid their mistakes. Now is the time for state lawmakers to embrace their economic power to address this growing cost of living challenge.
Insurers of Last Resort:
Why Today’s FAIR Plans Need a Redesign to Address the Home Insurance Crisis
As extreme weather escalates, insurance prices balloon, and insurance companies refuse to renew existing policies or write new ones, insurers of last resort increasingly provide the only property insurance coverage option for homeowners and housing providers. This report examines the history, structure, governance, and financial exposure of every state insurer of last resort program in the United States—with deep dives into California, Florida, and New Mexico—and offers recommendations for Fair Access to Insurance Requirements (FAIR) Plan reform.