This week I’m joining leaders from around the world at the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco, where I’ll deliver this message from the Beyond Coal Campaign: Despite Trump, you can still count on the U.S. to meet our climate commitments. That’s because the thousands of grassroots Beyond Coal leaders who are stopping coal plants and replacing them with clean energy aren’t slowing down. From ending the coal rush to securing retirement of half the nation’s coal plants, we have a long track record of delivering on our commitments, which is why I’m confident we’re going to continue our progress.
After Trump announced his plans to exit the Paris Climate Agreement in 2017 (with disgraced former EPA chief Scott Pruitt by his side, as you might recall), America’s Pledge was created to fill the leadership vacuum and make sure commitments from states, cities, businesses, and civil society groups would keep the nation on track to meet our Paris targets. This week at the summit, America’s Pledge released a major report that includes these two key findings: 1) there is a pathway for the U.S. to meet its Paris targets, even in the current political climate, and 2) the electric power sector is the single biggest area of opportunity in the near term -- specifically, retiring coal plants and ramping up renewable energy.
As director of Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign, I can vouch for that opportunity. Through over a decade of advocacy by over 100 partner groups in the electric sector, we stopped construction of over 200 new coal plants, secured the closure of over half of U.S. coal plants (273 and counting), and helped usher in the renewable energy that’s powering the U.S. at record levels, at prices cheaper than coal. Here are just a few recent examples:
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Just two weeks ago, FirstEnergy Solutions announced the two biggest coal plants ever proposed for retirement in U.S. history – Bruce Mansfield in Pennsylvania and Sammis in Ohio. These notorious polluters could no longer compete against clean energy, and now it’s essential to provide a transition for workers and communities.
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In its new energy plan, famously fossil-fuel–loving utility Duke Energy set a date for phasing out coal and delayed the online dates for proposed new gas plants -- far from a complete victory, but a first step in the right direction that we’ll work to strengthen and accelerate, and another sign that the tide continues to turn, even in the Trump era.
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This summer, Colorado regulators approved plans by Xcel Energy to implement the single largest national proposal to replace retiring coal with renewables. Xcel will retire its Comanche coal plant ahead of schedule; replace that power with major new additions of wind, solar, and energy storage; and save customers $200 million.
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California just passed historic legislation committing the state to 100 percent carbon free energy by 2045, and when Governor Jerry Brown signed the legislation, he added an executive order to set a target to make the state carbon neutral by the same deadline.
In the coming years, the Beyond Coal network will be instrumental in delivering on America’s Pledge. Our goals through 2020 are to close two-thirds of U.S. coal plants, bring enough renewable energy online to replace them, tackle the dire climate threat posed by the gas rush, and support an economic transition for fossil fuel workers and communities. We’re also laying the groundwork beyond 2020, toward an end game that will push all fossil fuels off the U.S. power grid. As massive hurricanes bear down on the East Coast and record wildfires tear across the West, we have no time to lose.
Of course Trump will continue trying to throw roadblocks in front of us, from proposing federal coal bailouts, to repealing clean air and clean water protections, to putting fossil fuel lobbyists in charge of EPA. We’re fighting him every step of the way and winning a lot of victories in the process as his schemes are rejected by courts and regulators. But it will still be a tough road ahead, and advocacy will play a decisive role in how much we are able to achieve.
That’s why this week’s climate summit is so important. Unlike the political bluster coming from the Trump administration, the commitments made this week at the Global Climate Action Summit will be promises you can count on, because they’re coming from the leaders who do more than tweet -- they actually make the decisions about electricity, transportation, buildings, and other pivotal issues that will determine the fate of our climate. The Beyond Coal Campaign is proud to do our part by showing the pathway to make these commitments a reality, making sure these leaders deliver, and pushing them to reach higher. Join us.