Nebraska is the 16th-largest state by land area with a population of over two million making it the 38th-most populous state. The state is almost 77 thousand square acres, and 92% of that land is made up of farms and ranches. Nebraska is one of the top five states in the nation in agricultural output, known especially for cattle and calves, hogs, corn, soybeans, and wheat.
As the climate crisis continues to escalate and average temperatures in Nebraska continue to rise, the state will face an increase in extreme heat, drought, and flooding.
In 2024, coal provided 43% of the state’s total electricity generation. While it accounts for the largest share of Nebraska’s electricity generation, this is the lowest percentage since 1999. Natural gas contributed a record high at 4% while Nebraska’s sole nuclear power plant contributed 16% of electricity generation. Renewables contributed 36% in 2024. 32% came from wind power, which surpassed nuclear for the first time in 2019. Hydropower was 8% of renewable generation in 2024, while solar was only 2% of renewables. Still, solar has more than tripled since 2020 and Nebraska has great solar potential. The state’s largest solar farm came online in May 2024.
Nebraska has not enacted a renewable energy standard, but utilities are required to provide net metering. In 2021 some of Nebraska’s major utilities announced decarbonization goals for net-zero by 2050. In April 2024, the EPA announced a $62 million grant award to Nebraska-based non-profit Center for Rural Affairs for their Nebraska Solar for All program, but Solar for All grants were canceled the following year under the Trump administration.
Several clean energy bills were passed in Nebraska’s 2026 Legislative session updating the state’s Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program, providing tax exemptions for renewable energy facilities, establishing a framework for regulating data centers and other high-demand facilities, and requiring data centers to report annually on energy and water use, pay full system costs, and enter community benefit agreements. You can follow policy developments in Nebraska through this Bill Tracker from the Center for Rural Affairs.
Nebraska’s first statewide climate plan is its Priority Climate Action Plan, released in February 2024 under the EPA’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grants (CPRG) program. The PCAP develops a GHG inventory, identifies priority GHG reduction measures, and performs a low-income/disadvantaged communities benefit analysis the EPA awarded Nebraska $307 million to implement selected PCAP measures, including energy efficiency programs, solar programs, and biogas and biochar programs. However, the Trump administration paused or cancelled many of the CPRG grants, and it appears Nebraska has not yet released their Comprehensive Climate Action Plan which was due in December 2025.
Select cities in Nebraska have released their own climate plans. Omaha released its Omaha Climate Action and Resilience Plan in October 2024, and followed it up with its own Priority Climate Action Plan, making the city eligible for funding from the EPA’s CPRG program. The city of Lincoln’s 2021-2027 Climate Action Plan was passed by the Lincoln City Council in 2021 - As of 2026, 76% of the action items for 2027 are completed or in progress.
A comprehensive update of the state’s 2014 climate impact report was released in September 2025. The Nebraska Climate Assessment was authorized and funded by bipartisan legislation in 2022.
It’s a difficult time for environmental organizing in Nebraska. Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers called for the Department of Justice to investigate “over 150 U.S.-based climate activist groups taking money from foreign entities to influence domestic energy policy.” And the Heartland Environmental Justice Center, a center at Wichita State University working to advance environmental justice across Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and nine tribal nations, had to pause all its activities recently due to a lack of federal funding.
Still, Environmental groups and individual activists, journalists and community members remain committed to advancing environmental justice in regions like North Omaha, where a legacy of disinvestment, neglect, environmental racism and redlining formed the region into a “sacrifice zone” where Black infants face three times infant mortality rate than white infants, residents face lead exposure, soil contamination, toxic dust and soot, air pollution, health disparities and medical neglect. The Omaha Spatial Justice Project has shown how the construction of the North Freeway in Omaha displaced thousands of Black residents, decreasing Black homeownership and contributing to the development of food deserts and environmental injustice.
CREDIT: KETV NEWSWATCH 7
