This article discusses how utilities in the US are slowing down their efforts to lower the use of carbon-based fuel in the crucial next 10 years. Many of the nation’s largest utilities are planning to slow down their efforts to decarbonize, according to the companies’ own goals.
There are some good graphics here.
Many of the nation’s largest utilities are planning to slow down their efforts to decarbonize their electricity generation over the next decade compared to the previous one, threatening the ability for the U.S. to respond to the climate crisis at the speed that scientists say is necessary to avoid its worst effects.
Electric utilities lie at the crux of the effort to decarbonize the U.S. economy, which involves two steps: the first is to move all electric generation to zero-carbon sources of electricity. The second is to switch everything that’s currently fueled directly by oil or gas, like cars and trucks, onto that carbon-free electricity.
Most U.S. utilities have decreased the carbon dioxide that they pollute directly from power plants over the past decade, mainly by retiring coal-burning power plants. But between now and 2030, these same companies are planning to slow down their rates of decarbonization, according to a new analysis of the utilities’ goals.