In Brief: A Path to a Net-Zero America

How many electric vehicles should be on America’s roadways by 2030 to meet climate goals? How much land will be needed for solar or wind farms? Princeton University has released the final report of its Net-Zero America (NZA) study, which answers these questions and others.

“The good news is that there is a set of actions that can be taken in the 2020s to support a net-zero pathway for the longer term, regardless of which path to net-zero the country ultimately follows. This means that states can make big investments this decade with confidence that they will deliver value over the long term,” says Chris Greig, one of the study’s principal investigators and the Theodora D. ’78 & William H. Walton III ’74 Senior Research Scientist at the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment.

Accompanying the release is a new digital tool that gives policymakers and other state-level stakeholders access to the data to inform local decisions.

The newly published report and data are an update to the Net Zero America interim report released in December 2020. The final report includes some revised figures and a full set of supporting annexes. The final report and website provide all final data sets from the study, which journalists, policymakers and other stakeholders can explore to better understand how different decisions will affect their communities. The website also provides state-by-state data sheets as downloadable PDFs.

More from Urban Land:

• The Time for a Net-Zero Building Boom Is Now

• Setting a Net-Zero Carbon Goal for 2050

• C40 Reinventing Cities Competition: Envisioning a Net-Zero Apartment Building in Chicago’s Loop

• Momentum Builds for ULI Greenprint Net Zero Carbon Operations Goal as Eight New Real Estate Companies Publicly Align