Southeast

Tennessee

Tennessee's greenhouse gas emissions have dropped by 8% from 1990-2021, largely due to a shift in electricity supply away from coal. Almost all of Tennessee's utility-scale power plants are owned by the Tennessee Valley Authority, the largest government-owned electricity provider in the nation. Nearly half of the state’s electricity is powered by two nuclear facilities, with the rest sourced from natural gas, coal, and renewables.

Governor

Bill Lee (Republican)

House Party

Republican Supermajority

Senate Party

Republican Supermajority

Legislative session

1/9/24 - 4/25/24

Key Offices & Links

5

Policies Enacted or In Progress

across 2 policy areas

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57

Policy Opportunities

across 7 policy areas

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Southeast

14 states

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

Compare with other states

Progress by Policy Area

Enacted
In-progress
Partially Enacted
Not Enacted

Glossary of Terms

Status	Policy	Policy Area	Policy Category	YR Enacted
Enacted	Commercial Energy Codes Empty column The statewide energy code for commercial building construction is 2012 IECC and ASHRAE 90.1-2010. Establishing Policies Tennessee State Energy Code (2016)	Buildings and Efficiency	Building Codes	2016
Enacted	Residential Energy Codes Empty column The statewide energy code for residential construction is 2018 IECC with amendments. Establishing Policies Tennessee State Energy Code (2020)	Buildings and Efficiency	Building Codes	2020
Not Enacted	Stretch Building Energy Codes Empty column Stretch building energy codes are an optional, more stringent building code established by the state that local jurisdictions can adopt to require that newly constructed buildings are more efficient than the baseline state codes.	Buildings and Efficiency	Building Codes
Not Enacted	Appliance Standards Empty column Appliance standards set minimum energy and water conservation requirements for appliances and equipment.	Buildings and Efficiency	Building Standards
Not Enacted	Building Performance Standards Empty column Building performance standards establish energy and/or greenhouse gas performance targets for existing buildings in a state. These targets increase in stringency over time, leading to efficiency improvements in buildings to conserve energy and reduce emissions.	Buildings and Efficiency	Building Standards
Not Enacted	Clean Heat Standards Empty column Clean heat standards establish a performance standard requiring heat providers to deliver a gradually-increasing percentage of low-emission heating services to customers.	Buildings and Efficiency	Building Standards
Not Enacted	Energy Efficiency Resource Standards (EERS) Empty column Energy efficiency resource standards (EERS) establish targets and deadlines for utilities to reduce electricity demand through efficiency or "demand side" programs.	Buildings and Efficiency	Building Efficiency
Enacted	Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Empty column Tennessee has enacted commercial PACE-enabling legislation and has active programs. Establishing Policies SB 795 (2021)	Buildings and Efficiency	Building Efficiency	2021
Partially Enacted	Weatherization Funding 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. Establishing Policies SPOT - Weatherization Funding in Tennessee Policy Components not-enacted enacted enacted enacted 3/4	Buildings and Efficiency	Building Efficiency
Not Enacted	All-Electric Buildings Empty column All-electric buildings policies require new buildings to be constructed with all-electric heating, cooling, and cooking systems to transition away from fossil-fuel use in buildings.	Buildings and Efficiency	Building Electrification

Tennessee

Key Offices & Links

5

57

Southeast

Progress by Policy Area

Climate Governance and Equity

Cross-Sector

Electricity

Buildings and Efficiency

Transportation

Industry, Materials, and Waste Management

Natural and Working Lands

Greenhouse Gas Emissions Projections in Tennessee