The Dirty Truth About Utility Climate Pledges

For the sake of our communities and planet, we must do everything in our power to create a clean, renewable electric grid by 2030. Utilities must lead this transition, but our research shows they are wholly unprepared to do their part. Clean energy is reliable and affordable; electric utilities have no excuse to delay and no time left to waste.

We evaluated integrated resource plans (IRPs) and major announcements from the 50 dirtiest parent companies and 77 operating companies included in our original study (see appendices for details). These include investor-owned utilities, public utilities (such as the Tennessee Valley Authority), …

Greater ESG Rating Consistency Could Encourage Sustainable Investments

Investors are increasingly applying environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors, in addition to traditional financial analyses, as part of their process to better understand a company’s growth opportunities, material risk and sustainability levels. As sustainable investments become mainstream, new tools have developed to assess how companies perform from these new angles and facilitate investment decisionmaking. One such tool is ESG ratings.

ESG ratings have been seen as a gimmick, as current rating practices are inconsistent with the way they measure a company’s long-term value creation and do not necessarily incorporate a company’s positive or negative impact on the environment or …

Beyond Clean Energy: The Financial Incidence and Health Effects of the IRA

The tax provisions of the IRA will affect electricity prices, tax burdens, emissions, and public health. This analysis examines each of these effects from a distributional perspective, with consideration of alternative scenarios regarding future natural gas prices and electricity demand. Further details of these scenarios and modeling results are described in subsequent sections of this report.

Our projections indicate the IRA accelerates emissions reductions in the electricity sector, reduces electricity prices, and provides a progressive cost shift from consumers to taxpayers to pay for the program. Substantial air quality benefits also result, accruing notably in regions of the country most …

BGE Integrated Decarbonization Strategy

The State of Maryland has begun its transition to a deeply decarbonized economy, building upon over a decade of climate change mitigation efforts, including work led by the State. To achieve the State’s climate goals, which were updated and accelerated in the Climate Solutions Now Act of 2022 to target a net zero economy by 2045, it will be critical for Maryland to reduce emissions from buildings, industry, and transportation sectors. E3 worked with Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE) to explore the necessary transformations needed in BGE’s service territory to accomplish the State’s goals. As the largest utility in Maryland, …

Cybersecurity Considerations for Distributed Energy Resources on the U.S. Electric Grid

To address the impacts of climate change, the U.S. electric grid will be undergoing significant changes by integrating clean energy resources such as solar and wind. These efforts will be accelerated with the recent passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act. Furthermore, electric customers will continue to adopt intelligent energy devices, including smart lighting and thermostats, which will be able to communicate with rooftop solar, electric vehicles, and more. These efforts will be critical for combating climate change and providing resilience benefits before, during, and after major events. However, as the U.S. electric grid …

Interior’s Authority to Consider Downstream Emissions from Offshore Leasing

In its proposed Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas leasing program for 2023–2028, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) claims that it cannot consider downstream greenhouse gas emissions when setting leasing policy because of a 2009 D.C. Circuit case, Center for Biological Diversity v. Department of the Interior (CBD). This Policy Brief explains that BOEM misreads CBD, which held only that the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) does not require the agency to consider downstream effects. The Policy Brief further explains that neither CBD nor any other case law bars BOEM from considering downstream effects and that consideration …

Hydrogen Fuel Cells Fact Sheet

Hydrogen, and particularly green hydrogen, has been hyped as a zero-carbon, emissions free fuel. However, the only emissions-free use of green hydrogen is when it’s run through a fuel cell.

Clean Energy Group has published a fact sheet answering four commonly asked questions about fuel cells – what they are, what they can be used for, drawbacks, and potential benefits. This fact sheet will provide context for any community organizations, municipalities, or critical service providers who are considering fuel cells as a carbon-free power source.

For more information about hydrogen use in the power sector, visit www.cleanegroup.org/ceg-projects/hydrogen.…

Falling Behind A Report Card on EPA’s Progress on 10 Important Power Sector Rules

Analysis by Evergreen Action shows that EPA is falling behind on eight key climate change and air quality regulations for the power sector, with only two rules on track. After several delays and missed deadlines, EPA must go further, faster to finalize these rules during President Biden’s first term and keep our climate and environmental justice targets within sight. …

Red Light, Green Deal, Yellow Light: Biden’s Energy Roadmap

President Joe Biden rode into office with big plans for green energy in the United States and a focus on climate policy measures. But his attempts to address the complex energy and environmental issues of climate change have encountered significant challenges: a perfect storm of factors that traverse politics, geopolitics, economic nationalism, legislatures, regulatory agencies, supply chains and market forces across multiple sectors. The contentious nature of American politics, as well as a series of inopportune global events, all but derailed Biden’s most ambitious goals. In effect, his administration has had to make peace with much more limited climate action. …

The Future of Green Hydrogen Value Chains: Geopolitical and Market Implications in the Industrial Sector

The global transition to a low-carbon economy will significantly impact existing energy value chains and transform the production to consumption lifecycle, dramatically altering interactions among stakeholders. Thanks to its versatility, green hydrogen is gaining economic and political momentum and could play a critical role in a carbon-free future. Furthermore, its adoption will be critical for decarbonizing industrial processes at scale, especially hard-to-abate ones such as steel and cement production. Overall, hydrogen demand is expected to grow by 700% by 2050 (BP, 2019). Currently, the two central challenges to green hydrogen adoption and use at scale are limited infrastructure availability and …