It’s one thing for the EPA to roll out and enforce rules meant to protect frontline communities and broaden protections for communities downwind or downstream of polluting facilities. It’s another for the power sector to actually make meaningful changes. A recent Sierra Club report found that a majority of utilities are talking a big game but putting very little action behind their climate pledges. Few utility companies will come close to reaching clean energy goals for 2030. Per the Sierra Club:
“Of the 77 utilities we studied, nearly half of them (44%) made no progress or received a lower score than in our previous report [from a year and a half ago]. Overall, the aggregate score for all utilities in our analysis was 21.1, up just 4 points from the previous aggregate score of 17.2. This disappointing inaction occurred despite a tumultuous 18 months of grid reliability crises, blackouts, energy price spikes, and extreme weather events; many of these trace their roots in large part to utilities’ stubborn reliance on expensive and unreliable fossil fuels.”
Those scores operate on a 0 to 100 system, making these figures even more depressing to look at. Even if the EPA gets its act together and better enforces carbon standards for existing power plants, the Sierra Club stresses that the clock is ticking before many of those plants must be shuttered in order to meet net-zero goals. In addition to the environmental group’s report, the Sierra Club also offers a tool to break down their report by utility. My home utility, Entergy New Orleans, somehow scored a 52—considered a B by the Sierra Club—through this latest report. How does yours stack up?
April Siese
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