Roadmap for Incorporating Energy 

Efficiency/Renewable Energy 

Policies and Programs into State and Tribal 

Implementation Plans 

Appendix G: Emerging/Voluntary Measures 

Pathway 
G-1 

EPA-456/D-12-001h

July 2012

Roadmap for Incorporating Energy Efficiency/Renewable Energy 

Policies and Programs into State and Tribal Implementation Plans 

Appendix G: Emerging/Voluntary Measures Pathway 

By: 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 

Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards 

Outreach and Information Division 

Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 

Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards 

Outreach and Information Division 

Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 
G-2 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

We would like to acknowledge substantial contributions from members of an inter-office EPA 

team that included the Office of Atmospheric Programs, the Office of Policy Analysis and 

Review, the Office of General Counsel and Regions 1 and 6. This document also reflects 

comments received from a number of stakeholders, including state and local air quality 

agencies.
G-3 

Contents

SECTION G.1: BASICS OF EMERGING/VOLUNTARY MEASURES ................................................................................ G-4

Pathway Description .............................................................................................................................................. G-4

Tradeoffs of Pathway ............................................................................................................................................. G-5

Circumstances the Pathway is Best Suited For ...................................................................................................... G-5

SECTION G.2: FOUR CRITERIA FOR SIP/TIP EMERGING/VOLUNTARY MEASURES .................................................... G-5

Quantifiable ........................................................................................................................................................... G-5

Surplus ................................................................................................................................................................... G-7

Enforceable ............................................................................................................................................................ G-7

Permanent ............................................................................................................................................................. G-8

How a State or Tribe Can Get SIP/TIP Approval for Emerging/Voluntary Measures ............................................. G-8

SECTION G.3: BUNDLING OF EMERGING/VOLUNTARY MEASURES .......................................................................... G-8

REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................................................... G-9
G-4 

SECTION G.1: BASICS OF EMERGING/VOLUNTARY MEASURES 

Pathway Description 

In the 2004 guidance1, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognized that many 

areas of the country have implemented most available traditional emission control strategies 

and are interested in new types of 

pollutant reduction strategies to 

attain and maintain applicable 

National Ambient Air Quality 

Standard (NAAQS), including 

emerging and voluntary energy 

efficiency/renewable energy (EE/RE) 

programs. The EPA supports and 

encourages the testing of voluntary 

and emerging pollutant reduction 

strategies. A voluntary measure is a 

measure or strategy that is not 

enforceable against an individual 

emissions source or party 

administering the measure. An 

emerging measure is a measure or 

strategy that does not have the same 

high level of certainty as traditional 

measures for quantification purposes. 

A measure can be either emerging or 

voluntary, or both. 

Similar to the control strategy pathway, under this option an EE/RE program can receive 

emission reduction State Implementation Plan/Tribal Implementation Plan (SIP/TIP) credit and 

would need to satisfy the four criteria for SIP/TIP measures: 

Quantifiable 

Surplus 

Enforceable

Permanent

EPA’s Emerging and Voluntary Measures Policy2 provides flexibility for emerging measures on 

the quantifiable criterion, and for voluntary measures it provides flexibility regarding the 

enforceable criterion. 

 

1

 EPA (2004).

2

EPA (2004).
G-5 

Tradeoffs of Pathway 

State, tribal and local agencies can, of course, select more than one pathway for their 

jurisdiction’s different EE/RE policies and programs. With respect to the emerging/voluntary 

measures pathway, the quantity of potential SIP/TIP credit is presumptively limited to 6 percent 

of the reductions needed for reasonable further progress (RFP), attainment, or maintenance of 

a NAAQS. The limitations and conditions under which emerging and or voluntary measures can 

receive credit are determined at the beginning of the SIP/TIP process, and provisional pollutant 

reduction credit is provided under the assumption that the EE/RE measures will achieve the 

quantity of the initially estimated emission reductions. The actual amount of credit to be 

awarded and the rationale for approving voluntary/emerging measures will be established 

through notice and comment rulemaking during the SIP/TIP approval process. 

Circumstances the Pathway is Best Suited For 

This pathway is best suited for voluntary measures, emerging measures and measures that are 

both emerging and voluntary. For voluntary measures, this pathway is well suited for 

jurisdictions that have a voluntary EE/RE policy or program that is not enforceable against an 

emissions source or implementing party, but for which state, tribal or local agency wants 

SIP/TIP credit. For emerging measures, this pathway is well suited for EE/RE policies and 

programs for which it is difficult to quantify the emission impacts but for which the state, tribal 

or local agency wants SIP/TIP credit. 

SECTION G.2: FOUR CRITERIA FOR SIP/TIP EMERGING/VOLUNTARY MEASURES

In order to adopt and implement emission reduction strategies to meet SIP/TIP CAA 

requirements, such as RFP, attainment demonstrations, general conformity and maintenance, 

the reductions from emerging/voluntary measures need to be: 

Quantifiable 

Enforceable 

Surplus 

Permanent

Quantifiable 

Emissions and emission reductions attributed to the measure are quantifiable if someone can 

reliably measure or determine their magnitude in a manner that can be replicated. Any 

uncertainty in the quantification should be addressed by following the guidance contained in 

the Economic Incentives Program (EIP)3in section 5.2 (b). Voluntary measures should meet this 

provision unless the measure is also an emerging measure. 

As noted in Appendix C, for emerging and/or voluntary stationary measures the presumptive 

limit is 6 percent of the total amount of emission reductions required for the RFP, attainment, 

or maintenance demonstration purposes. The limit applies to the total quantity of emission 

reductions that can be claimed from any combination of emerging and/or voluntary measures. 

 

3

 EPA (2001).
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The limit is presumptive in that EPA believes it may approve measures into a SIP/TIP above the 

presumptive 6 percent where a clear and convincing justification is made by the state, tribal or 

local agency as to why a higher limit should apply in their case. The EPA will review any request 

for a higher limit on a case-by-case basis through SIP/TIP approval rulemaking. 

For emerging measures, EPA’s Emerging and Voluntary Measures Policy specifically allows 

flexibility for the quantification criteria. The policy allows jurisdictions that want to try new 

types of emission control or pollution reduction strategies the leeway to do so. The EPA’s 

policy provides a mechanism that allows the state, tribal or local agency to receive provisional 

emission reduction credit in their SIP/TIP for EE/RE pollutant reduction strategies that have the 

potential to generate additional emission reductions or air quality benefits. In these 

circumstances, the state, tribal or local agency should quantify the emission reduction based on 

the best knowledge currently available for the measure being considered. The state, tribal or 

local agency should develop a protocol based on a carefully considered determination of the 

activities that it commits to undertake and the projected impact on emissions of those 

activities. The estimates may be based on modeling, on extrapolated experience for similar 

types of projects or on another approach that is likely to yield a reasonable estimate of 

emission reduction. Refer to Appendix I for available emission quantification approaches of 

EE/RE policies and programs. 

The EPA recommends that state, tribal and local agencies consider the capacity factor approach 

presented in Appendix I as a starting point for quantification, recognizing that for 

emerging/voluntary programs more detailed methods are probably not warranted. Agencies 

will need to try to complete two tasks, recognizing that they may be challenging for 

emerging/voluntary measures: 

1) Estimate the energy savings that an EE policy will produce, or, for a RE policy, the 

amount of energy generation that will occur. 

2) Quantify displaced EGU emissions from energy impacts of an EE policy or RE policy. 

The state, tribal or local agency should then have in place a protocol for tracking progress 

toward meeting that estimate of emission reduction, which may mean monitoring a surrogate 

measure of implementation. For example, suppose a local government in a nonattainment 

area implements a municipal energy conservation program for its buildings or a program to 

provide incentives for changeover to more energy efficient air conditioners. To quantify the 

emission benefits, the first step would be to select metrics to indicate participation levels so 

that the area can determine if the conservation plan or incentive program was fully 

implemented. The local government should make sufficient information available to verify that 

the EE/RE policy or program was implemented as proposed. 

After determining participation levels, the next step would be to determine project energy 

savings based on participation. The state, tribal or local agency can perform a calculation of 

energy savings based on the EE measures implemented or on the number of more efficient air 

conditioners installed. That energy savings estimate can then be used to generate an emission 
G-7 

reduction number using the suggested capacity factor technique (see Appendix I). A final step 

would be to evaluate whether the predicted emission reductions occurred. For example, where 

appropriate, the validation process could include review of the total electricity used or 

generated before and after a measure is implemented, or tracking of implementation 

surrogates. In certain cases, monitoring and record keeping may be necessary to quantify the 

actual amount of SIP/TIP credit generated. This information will vary according to the nature of 

the project and initiative. Such things as the method used to determine the credit, as well as 

the magnitude and location of the credit generated and the tools available to track and monitor 

discrete results will affect the actual level of detail and information necessary. For example 

evaluation and verification protocols, refer to the Department of Energy’s National Action 

Plan.4 

As noted below, the area would most likely want to “bundle” this program with other emerging 

and/or voluntary EE/RE efforts to help ensure a bigger impact and to obtain more credit. 

Surplus 

Emission reductions used to meet the requirements of the emerging/voluntary measures 

pathway are surplus as long as they are not relied upon in any of the other three pathways 

included in a jurisdiction’s SIP/TIP. Jurisdictions may rely on emission reductions associated 

with the EE/RE policies and programs to satisfy the SIP RACT and RFP requirements, as well as 

CAA requirements for emission standards. The state, tribal or local agency needs to indicate in 

writing that the emission reductions being claimed for credit under the emerging/voluntary 

measures policy are not also reflected in the baseline emission projection, traditional control 

strategy or a WOE demonstration SIP/TIP pathways. 

Enforceable 

As described in Appendix C, EPA’s Emerging and Voluntary Measures policy provides some 

flexibility on the enforceability criterion for voluntary measures by providing that the state, 

tribal or local agency assure that the emission reductions credited in the SIP/TIP occur. The 

state, tribal or local agency would make an enforceable commitment in writing to monitor, 

assess and report on the emission reductions resulting from the voluntary measures and take 

responsibility, in a timely manner, for making up any shortfalls in emission reductions for 

emerging/voluntary measures. 

For emerging measures, emission reductions and other mandatory state or local actions are 

enforceable against the source, if for each source: 

They are independently verifiable; 

Program violations are defined; 

Those responsible for the violations can be identified; 

They are enforceable in accordance with EPA guidance on practicable enforceability5; 

 

4

 EPA and the U.S. Department of Energy (2006). 

5

 EPA (1989) and EPA (1992).
G-8 

The state maintains, for emerging measures, the ability to apply penalties and secure 

appropriate corrective action where applicable; and 

The state maintains the ability, for voluntary measures, to secure appropriate corrective 

action with respect to portions of the program that are directly enforceable against the 

source 

Permanent 

The emission reductions expected from the state, tribal or local agency’s EE/RE programs 

should be fully implemented during the term for which the credit is granted unless, at the time 

of approval of the plan, the agency makes clear that another measure will replace it, or the 

agency demonstrates through a SIP/TIP revision that the measure is no longer necessary to 

meet any applicable SIP/TIP criteria. 

How a State or Tribe Can Get SIP/TIP Approval for Emerging/Voluntary 

Measures 

A state or tribe would submit a SIP/TIP to EPA which: 

Identifies and describes the measure; 

Contains projections of emission reductions attributable to the program, along with 

relevant technical support documentation, including, for emerging measures, a full 

discussion of the relevant best available science supporting the measure; 

Enforceably commits the state, tribal or local agency to implement those parts of the 

measure for which the government is responsible; 

Enforceably commits the agency to monitor, evaluate, and report at least every three 

years to the public and EPA on the resulting emissions effect of the emission or 

pollutant reduction measure; 

Enforceably commits the agency to remedy any SIP/TIP credit shortfall in a timely 

manner, if the program does not achieve projected emission reductions; 

Meets all other requirements for SIP/TIP revisions under sections 110 and 172 and any 

applicable sections of the CAA; and 

Undergoes public notice and comment as any other SIP/TIP revision. 

SECTION G.3: BUNDLING OF EMERGING/VOLUNTARY MEASURES 

State, tribal and local agencies can bundle individual emerging and voluntary measures in a 

single SIP/TIP submission. Air agencies would need to quantify the emissions reductions for 

each measure in the bundle and sum the total reductions in the SIP/TIP submission. After 

SIP/TIP approval, each individual measure would be implemented according to its schedule in 

the SIP/TIP. It is the performance of the entire bundle (the sum of the emission reductions 

from all the measures in the bundle) that is considered for SIP/TIP evaluation purposes, not the 

effectiveness of any individual measure. Refer to Appendix K for examples of states that have 

included bundled voluntary measures in their SIP/TIP. 
G-9 

REFERENCES 

EPA (1989). Guidance on Limiting Potential to Emit in New Source Permitting. June 13, 1989. Available 

online at <http://www.epa.gov/reg3artd/permitting/t5_epa_guidance.htm> 

EPA (1992). Use of Long Term Rolling Averages to Limit Potential to Emit. February 24, 1992. Available 

online at <http://www.epa.gov/region7/air/title5/t5memos/rollave.pdf> 

EPA (2001). Improving Air Quality with Economic Incentive Programs. January 2001. Available online at 

<http://www.epa.gov/ttn/oarpg/t1/memoranda/eipfin.pdf> 

EPA (2004). Incorporating Emerging and Voluntary Measures in a State Implementation Plan (SIP). 

September 2004. Available online at 

<http://www.epa.gov/ttn/oarpg/t1/memoranda/evm_ievm_g.pdf> 

EPA and U.S. Department of Energy (2006). National Action Plan for Energy Efficiency. July 2006. 

Available online at <http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/documents/suca/napee_report.pdf> 
10

United States

Environmental Protection

Agency

Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards

Outreach and Information Division

Research Triangle Park, NC

Publication No. EPA-456/D-12-001h

July 2012