Energy efficiency has become one of the pillars of the effort to combat climate change. While it promises great savings in the long run, the technology requires significant upfront investment to launch.

According to the 2025 Energy Efficiency Scorecard, announced on March 18, 2025, from the American Council on an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), many states are investing heavily in energy efficiency. In fact, their investments have reached a record high.

The 2025 Scorecard represents the 16th edition of this report. It ranks the 50 states and Washington, D.C., on their policies and programs to advance energy efficiency.

This year’s edition found that energy efficiency investment by states rebounded after taking a dip during the years of the COVID-19 pandemic to a new record high level of an estimated $8.8 billion in 2023.

Much of the emphasis was on helping those who would be least likely to have access. The spending included a doubling of support for low-income households to more than $2 billion from 2021 to 2023.

According to the Scorecard, many states and utilities reported efforts to expand beyond efficiency in lighting, targeting other types of technology, such as deep energy home retrofits, smart buildings, expansion of electric vehicle infrastructure, zero-energy buildings, and electrification of space and water heating.

The Scorecard emphasizes that appliance standards are also an important feature of energy-efficiency efforts, and eight states updated or adopted energy-efficiency standards for appliances or adopted a clean lighting policy in 2023 and 2024. 

Concerning the rankings, California, Massachusetts and New York comprise the top three. Maryland and Vermont tied for fourth. Louisiana was the most improved state, jumping up nine spots to 37th in the rankings, based on significant improvements to its building codes.

ACEEE notes that most additional energy-efficiency investments made since the last scorecard in 2022 were in just a few states. It adds that most states need to do more to harness energy efficiency to help users cut costs.

Image by Getty Images / Olga Kurbatova