Hostile chambers, fragile coalitions: civility and renewable energy politics in the United States

State legislatures play a pivotal role in shaping renewable energy and conservation policy in the United States, though effectiveness varies widely. While prior research has emphasized political ideology and party control, institutional norms—particularly legislative civility—remain underexplored. This study examines the relationship between legislative civility, defined as mutual respect, procedural fairness, and constructive dialog, and state energy policy performance. Drawing on original data from a 2024 national survey of state legislative lobbyists, we construct a Legislative Civility Index and analyze its association with the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) State Scorecard. Bivariate comparisons and discriminant analysis evaluate the effects of civility, political context, and public opinion. Findings show that states with higher legislative civility consistently outperform others in building energy efficiency, low-income programs, public-sector energy management, and overall energy policy implementation. Moreover, the interaction between civility and Democratic party control significantly enhances the classification of high-performing states, suggesting that civility amplifies the policy effectiveness of partisan majorities. These results underscore the role of deliberative norms in fostering legislative capacity and policy throughput in polarized environments. Civility is not merely symbolic but a substantive institutional asset for climate governance. This study contributes to the political behavior and energy transition literature by identifying civility as an overlooked determinant of state energy policy outcomes and suggests that strengthening civil norms may serve as an indirect but powerful lever to accelerate equitable and effective climate action.