With a total area of 12,407 square miles, Maryland is the ninth-smallest state by land area, and its population of approximately 6.2 million makes it the 19th-most populous state and the fifth-most densely populated. Maryland's capital city is Annapolis, and the most populous city is Baltimore.
CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS
According to the NOAA State Climate Summaries series, temperatures in Maryland have risen 2.5 degrees (F) since the beginning of the 20th century. Maryland is projected to experience more intense heat waves, more frequent and intense precipitation events, increased flood risk, and increased droughts. Extreme heat in the state is expected to increase negative health outcomes including salmonella infections and hospitalizations for heart attacks and asthma. The Maryland Commission on Climate Change’s 2025 annual report finds saltwater intrusion is already impacting groundwater, wetlands, coastal forests, agriculture, and infrastructure. The Chesapeake Bay area, the largest estuary in the nation, is the third most vulnerable area in the U.S. to sea level rise, behind Louisiana and South Florida. Sea levels are rising in the Bay 50% faster than the national average. Rising sea levels will lead to coastal flooding, shoreline erosion, saltwater intrusion into groundwater, loss of habitat and loss of marine biodiversity.
ENERGY
Despite being home to the second-largest coal exporting port in the United States, Maryland has been among the leaders in a shift away from traditional energy sources. Maryland has no crude oil production.
- Since 2012, coal’s share in electricity generation has been less than 50%, falling to 23% in 2018 and only 6% in 2025. Maryland’s last coal-fired power plant was scheduled to retire in 2025, but was extended until 2029. And, in June 2026, Trump announced an $85 million federal investment to restart another coal facility. The funding was secured by invoking the Defense Production Act as part of a larger $700 million federal package aimed at protecting and reviving domestic coal plants and mines.
- In 2025, 76% of Maryland’s total electricity was generated from nuclear energy and natural gas. The state’s sole nuclear power plant produced 38% of its total electricity generation, and natural gas provided 38%, an increase of more than sixfold since 2014.
- Renewable energy provided 14% of Maryland’s total electricity in 2025. Solar power accounted for over half of the renewable electricity generated, seven times greater than in 2015, largely from small-scale, customer-sited solar panels. The largest solar facility in Maryland came online in 2025, with a capacity of 160 megawatts. Hydropower provided over one-fourth of renewable electricity generation, largely from the state’s Conowingo hydroelectric generating station. Biomass accounted for 5% of renewable electricity generation, and wind for over about one-twelfth. The state has a very high potential for offshore wind but there is nothing nearing completion in 2026.
CLIMATE PLANS AND LEGISLATION
- In 2007, Governor Martin O’Malley established the Maryland Commission on Climate Change with an Executive Order, tasking the Commission with developing a Climate Action Plan, which was released in August 2008. In May 2015, the Maryland Commission on Climate Change Act codified the commission into law and officially charged it with advising the Governor and General Assembly on climate change mitigation. The Commission releases annual reports; you can find the most recent report here (2025).
- In 2009, Maryland passed the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act of 2009 (GGRA) requiring the state to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 25% from 2006 levels by 2020. Since its passage, the bill has been updated (in 2015 and 2019), with each amendment proposing greater energy conservation targets. The goals of the 2019 GGRA included a 40% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and a transition to 100% clean electricity by 2040.
- In 2017, the Maryland General Assembly passed a permanent ban on fracking for natural gas and crude oil production.
- Maryland updated their GGRA targets once again in 2022, passing the Climate Solutions Now Act (CSNA) into law, which established the most ambitious greenhouse gas reduction goals in the nation. Maryland is now legally required to reduce statewide GHG emissions 60% by 2031, and net-zero by 2045. The CSNA added four new working groups to the Commission on Climate Change, and established a Building Energy Transition Implementation Task Force. Finally, the CSNA mandated the development of a climate plan to provide a roadmap for achieving these reduction goals.
- This plan, the Climate Pollution Reduction Plan, was released in December 2023 by the Maryland Department of the Environment.
- The Plan was followed by an Executive Order by Governor Moore requiring state agencies take immediate action to implement the Reduction Plan and establishing a Governor’s Subcabinet on the Climate to release annual reports on implementation progress. The Subcabinet’s latest annual report (2025) is available here.
- On March 1, 2024, Maryland released a Priority Climate Action Plan. Developed under the EPA’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grants program, the PCAP builds off of the 2023 Climate Pollution Reduction Plan, while focusing on greenhouse gas emissions and other priorities mandated by the program. Maryland was awarded almost $130 million from the EPA to implement this plan.
- As mandated by the CSNA, the four new working groups of the Maryland Commission on Climate Change published their first comprehensive reports in 2024 and 2025: The Just Transition Employment and Retraining Working Group Study, Renewable Energy Transition in Maryland, Energy Resilience and Efficiency in Maryland, and A Circular Economy Approach to Solar Voltaics in Maryland.
- In December 2025, Governor Moore announced full funding for the RENEW (Responding to Emergency Needs from Extreme Weather) Act, which mandates a cost calculation study on the financial harm of climate change in Maryland. Previously, Governor Moore had vetoed the bill due to budget concerns, leading to the Maryland legislature voting to override the veto, before reversing his decision. With a final report on the cost of greenhouse gas emissions due by December 2026, the act lays the groundwork for potential superfund legislation in the state. According to Governor Moore, “While the federal government has spent the past year rolling back climate protections and driving up energy costs, Maryland is taking a responsible step toward understanding the true price tag of climate damage.” Work began on the Maryland Cost of Climate Change Study in March 2026.
- Half of climate policies in the Climate Pollution Reduction Plan were being implemented as of the Maryland Commission on Climate Change Annual Report for 2025, with Maryland reducing climate pollution faster than almost any other state. According to the report, Maryland achieved a 29% reduction of GHG Emissions below 2006 levels by 2023, and has achieved significant progress in the buildings sector and with clean heat and zero-emission heating standards. However, the state is facing budgetary challenges with the largest structural deficit in decades and the uncertainty of federal funding cuts. The University of Maryland’s Center for Global Sustainability found that Maryland will only reduce emissions 40-45% by 2031 under current policies, largely due to lags in the transportation and energy industries.
- The 2026 Maryland Legislative Session included the passage of the Supporting Inclusive Community Adaptation Act expanding shoreline protections and resilience programs, and the Utility RELIEF Act investing in clean energy and aiming to lower customer energy costs. A bill requiring consideration of environmental justice data in pollution permit decisions did not pass.
IS MARYLAND COLLABORATING WITH OTHER STATES?
- A member of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a cooperative of ten states in the Atlantic region with the goal of reducing GHG emissions, Maryland is able to regulate its energy use under the first cap-and-invest program in the nation. This program sets in place a cap on the GHG emissions allowed among the ten-state initiative and allows the private sector to trade for allowances under this cap.
- Maryland is one of 24 states, plus Puerto Rico, committed to the S. Climate Alliance, a bipartisan coalition of governors committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions consistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement.
- Maryland is stepping up on the international stage too, having participated in COP30 as the Trump administration stepped away, as well as joining New York Climate Week and London Climate Week, and hosting the Maryland-EU Circular Economy Forum.
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
On July 18, 2025, Governor Moore signed an Executive Order to create a new, comprehensive framework for environmental justice in Maryland’s state agencies. The order creates the Interagency Environmental Justice and Equity Advisory Council, mandates biennial environmental justice plans from each agency, and requires agencies to use MDEnviroScreen, the state’s environmental justice mapping tool.
In March 2026, the Maryland Supreme Court rejected climate lawsuits brought by Baltimore, Annapolis and Arundel County against 26 multinational oil and gas companies for damages they knowingly caused by burning fossil fuels. The Trump administration had previously urged the Maryland Supreme Court to dismiss the cases.
