“Tracking Decarbonization in the Southeast” Fifth Edition
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The fifth edition of “Tracking Decarbonization in the Southeast” published by the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE) examines power sector generation and emissions throughout the Southeast, which is home to some of the biggest utility systems in the nation, including Duke Energy, Southern Company, NextEra Energy, and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).
Communities across the Southeast, particularly frontline communities, are already experiencing the impacts of the climate crisis. From here on out, every ton of greenhouse gas emitted, every resource decision to continue to rely on fossil fuels or switch to clean resources, and every policy to drive electrification matters.
We now have two major pieces of federal legislation designed to aid in decarbonization: the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). These two laws will accelerate renewables, energy efficiency, and electrification – but will it be enough? To answer this, SACE has compiled historical data and utility resource plans, called Integrated Resource Plans (IRPs), to compare how the emissions projections from these current utility plans stack up against recommendations from climate scientists.
On Wednesday, August 9 at 12:30 PM ET, report authors Heather Pohnan, Energy Policy Manager, and Maggie Shober, Research Director, hosted a webinar focusing on report highlights including:
- Carbon plans and Integrated Resource Plans (IRPs) of utilities in the region
- New federal and established state policies behind decarbonization progress
- How the ongoing power sector transition in the region has to accelerate to avoid the worst impacts of the climate crisis