Just as designed, RGGI has lowered the region’s carbon emissions. In fact, since the program began, RGGI has helped cut carbon pollution from power plants in half. Smart choices by the RGGI states mean that the downward emissions trend will continue, with the pollution cap slated to decline by 3 percent a year through 2030. RGGI has also led to reductions in other dangerous pollutants that pour out of power plant smokestacks alongside carbon pollution. These pollutants—mercury, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter—are linked to human health impacts, including developmental delays, heart attacks, asthma attacks and other respiratory diseases, and even cancer. 

A 2017 analysis of RGGI’s first six years found the program created health benefits valued at $5.7 billion. Recent research has shown the program’s health benefits are even larger, including additional health benefits to children—such as reductions in childhood asthma, preterm births, and cases of low birth weight and autism spectrum disorder—as a result of particulate pollution reductions attributable to RGGI.