State and Utility Decarbonization Commitments
Against the backdrop of the retrograde actions of the Trump Administration on addressing climate change at the federal level, the last three years have seen a marked, positive shift in many state and utility company energy and climate policies. Dozens of states and utilities have moved towards ambitious carbon targets and an embrace of diverse technologies to achieve them through “Clean Electricity Standards” (or CES’s).
For many years, clean electricity policies focused either on achieving targets for renewable energy through “renewable portfolio standards” (RPS) or setting emissions caps. Instead, CES’s typically require an increasing percentage of zero-carbon electricity. As opposed to carbon emission limits or pricing, CES’s focus on bringing more clean energy resources to market.
To illustrate the progress that has been made in this field, CATF has built an interactive map that demonstrates the commitments by geographic area and will be updated in real time as new commitments are made. CATF has also created a list of recently enacted and proposed CES’s and utility company pledges and two charts (below) that show their significance in terms of national electric market share and carbon emissions covered.
Zoom in and out on this map by scrolling within the window and click and drag to move the map. To view the map in full screen click here.
This stacked bar graph captures the growing cumulative share of the U.S. electricity market falling within these commitments.
To view the chart in full screen click here.
This stacked bar graph captures the growing cumulative share of U.S. power sector CO2 emissions eliminated by these commitments.
To view the chart in full screen click here.
The full list of State Actions and Utility Pledges is available for download here.
