[New report shows that a dirty energy status quo prevails in
America’s power sector ]
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MOST UTILITIES THAT PLEDGE “NET ZERO BY 2050” ARE DOING LITTLE TO
ACHIEVE THAT GOAL  
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Jonathan Hahn
October 10, 2023
Sierra Club Magazine
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_ New report shows that a dirty energy status quo prevails in
America’s power sector _

, Photo by TomasSereda/iStock

 

Like many utilities, Southern Company, the second-largest gas and
electric company in the United States, has a “net zero” climate
pledge. A page
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its website features gleaming solar panels pointing toward a blue sky,
where the utility acknowledges the importance of the Paris Agreement.
“Key to Southern Company’s environmental initiatives,” the
company offers, “is a net-zero transition focusing on greenhouse
gas emissions reductions, decarbonization, and a Just Transition.”

Apparently, Southern Company’s green energy keywords haven’t
translated into actual policy. All the company’s
subsidiaries—Alabama Power, Georgia Power, and Mississippi Power,
which together serve 9 million customers— get an F on a national
report card tracking the progress of their plans to transition away
from fossil fuels, according to _The Dirty Truth About Utility
Climate Pledges: 2023 Annual Report_
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This is the third annual analysis from the Sierra Club assessing
whether electricity companies are meeting their “net zero by 2050”
commitments, or whether those commitments are just an exercise in
greenwashing. The analysis examines 77 utilities across the country
and their plans (if any) to retire coal plants and stop the
construction of new fracked gas plants. The score card also measures
how successful utilities have been in replacing high-polluting
sources of energy with clean sources such as wind and solar. 

“The utility industry is not moving at the pace that’s necessary
to respond to the climate crisis."

According to the latest findings, while many electricity utilities
publicly embrace notions such as decarbonization and a just
transition, their actual investment decisions reveal an industry
staunchly defending a dirty energy status quo.

“The utility industry is not moving at the pace that’s necessary
to respond to the climate crisis,” Leah Stokes
[[link removed]], an energy analyst, said. “They still
don’t have adequate plans to retire dirty coal plants, stop building
gas plants, and build new clean energy. That’s what we know they
have to do, and they are delaying the clean energy transition.”

The United States cannot meet its Paris Agreement commitments to cut
greenhouse gas emissions without a transition to clean energy in the
nation’s power sector. That sector ranks second in total greenhouse
gas emissions—after transportation—and is responsible for
approximately a quarter of the nation’s emissions. A
business-as-usual scenario directly undermines the systemic transition
to clean energy sources that climate scientists say must happen
without further delay.

But delay appears to be most utility companies’ standard operating
procedure. The report gives a collective D to the 77 companies
studied. Of those 77 companies, 33 either did not make any progress at
all in achieving their clean energy commitments or actually moved
backward and received a lower score than last year. Of the companies
that have a climate goal, only one—NiSource, the parent company of
Northern Indiana Public Service company—received an A. 

One of the biggest changes to take place between the 2022 and
2023 _Dirty Truth_ reports was the passage of the Inflation
Reduction Act. The act made billions of dollars available to utility
companies through tax credits and other incentives to help them
transition to renewable sources of energy. Many of those companies,
the analysis makes clear, have not updated their plans and investment
decisions in response. They continue to invest more in public displays
of embracing clean energy instead of embracing the IRA’s clean
energy incentives to help them make that transition.

"To get a D on your plans for clean energy transition right now, even
after the Inflation Reduction Act and the overall market trends
we’re seeing—the declining cost of solar, the declining cost of
batteries, the new opportunities and continued low cost of wind, new
opportunities opening up on geothermal—is inexcusable," said Sachu
Constantine, executive director of Vote Solar
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they are building more fossil fuel plants."

Sixty-five percent of the utilities operating coal plants have no
plans to shut down coal this decade, according to the analysis. Coal
is one of the dirtiest forms of energy. Burning coal releases a
variety of pollutants such as carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen
oxides, and heavy metals that foul air and water, impact public health
by contributing to higher incidents of respiratory illness and
disease, and supercharge the climate crisis. Gas plants, which are
often touted as being cleaner than coal plants, are just as polluting.
The extraction, production, and combustion of fracked gas is a large
source of methane, which is approximately 80 times more powerful at
warming up the climate over a 20-year timescale than carbon dioxide.

“Scientists have been saying for years now that we can’t build any
new fossil fuel infrastructure and limit warming to 1.5°C,” Stokes
said. “So the utility industry’s plan to build new gas plants is
completely out of line with what science tells us is necessary.”

Cleaner sources of energy are also cheaper for the companies that
manage them, and therefore cheaper for their customers. According
to a separate report released
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this year by Energy Innovation, 99 percent of the existing coal fleet
in the United States is more expensive to run than it would be if it
those facilities were replaced with solar or wind. 

_The Dirty Truth_ offers detailed case studies demonstrating how
utility companies greenwash their image through publicly embracing
net-zero pledges in principle and then continuing to burn fossil
fuels. Duke Energy Corporation, for example, owns five utilities,
including Duke Florida, Duke Indiana, and Duke Carolinas. Like
Southern Company, Duke has a Climate Change page
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its website describing how its “bold steps today lead to a cleaner
energy future for you.” _The Dirty Truth_ gives Duke a D and three
of its subsidiaries an F for progress on transitioning to clean
energy. It’s a slight improvement—in last year’s report, the
company received an F. Duke has the most coal capacity out of any
parent company in the United States, with over 17,000 megawatts of
coal online, and has plans to retire only 30 percent of that fleet by
2030. It also has plans to build new gas plants.

Climate denialism continues to be rampant in the industry. In the case
of Southern Company, its CEO Tom Fanning has publicly questioned
[[link removed].] whether
human activity is driving climate change. And the trade association
that represents all energy utilities and their interests nationwide,
the Edison Electric Institute, recently appointed Dan Brouillette as
president and chief executive. Brouillette served for two years as the
secretary of energy during the Trump administration; in 2020, he said
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he didn’t know if the science of climate change was settled. 

"The time for empty promises has passed."

Although most utilities are receiving D's and F's in this report,
there are a few standout companies showing what authentic progress can
look like. Northern Indiana Public Service Company has a plan to
retire its coal plants and replace most of the power in its system
with clean energy. And Xcel Energy in Minnesota, which has
consistently received an A in these reports, continues to top the
overall list of companies following through on clean energy
commitments. 

“We need other companies to put their money where their mouths
are,” Stokes said. “I don’t understand how you can think you are
a responsible company if a massive law passes like the Inflation
Reduction Act, giving billions of dollars to help utilities build
clean energy, and you don’t think you need to change your plans.
That just doesn’t make any sense.”

"There aren't enough words to describe how critical this moment is
with respect to climate change," Constantine said. "The time for empty
promises has passed. Greenwashing is no longer acceptible. We have to
move to action."

_JONATHAN HAHN is the Managing Editor of Sierra magazine, covering
climate change, environmental justice and politics, global trade,
energy, and public health._

* Global warming
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* Electric utilities
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* environmental pollution
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