Beyond Coal director Mary Anne Hitt, super-volunteer leader Verena Owen, and Beyond Coal senior campaign director Bruse Nilles at the COP23 Climate Change conference in Bonn, Germany, last month.
As this long, hard year comes to an end, there is good news -- we keep making steady progress in the transition from coal to clean energy, despite Trump’s many promises to his fossil fuel cronies. As a tribute to the hard work of thousands of grassroots leaders around the country who made this progress possible, we’ve penned a Beyond Coal edition of “The Twelve Days of Christmas.”
First, the big picture. This year, coal plant retirements continued at the same pace under Trump as they did under Obama -- one every 15 days. In 2017 there were 20 coal plants announced to retire, for a total of 268 plants since 2010, which brought us past the milestone of half US coal plants slated for retirement. Meanwhile, clean energy continued to skyrocket. That progress will save lives, lower electric bills for American families, and give us a fighting chance of preventing runaway climate change.
For more on our progress this year, I present Beyond Coal’s Twelve Days of Christmas:
In 2017, grassroots leaders gave to me (and you):
13 gigawatts of coal retirement announcements in 14 states -- Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and many more -- including some of the most notorious, deadly coal plants in the US.
12 gigawatts of new solar projected by the end of this year -- another epic year, as solar energy became cheaper than fossil fuels in states across the nation.
11 days in Europe to celebrate the launch of our sister campaign Europe Beyond Coal, and to share with world partners at international climate talks in Bonn, Germany, that Beyond Coal will be an essential engine for meeting our Paris climate commitment, despite Trump.
10s of thousands of people stood up for clean air and water and a safe climate, from the People’s Climate March in April, to the March for Science on Earth Day, to hearings and demonstrations across the nation opposing Trump’s environmental rollbacks.
9 bipartisan governors of Northeast and Mid-Atlantic States finalized a rule to accelerate the pace of climate pollution reductions from power plants through the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. The standard will drive replacement of coal with efficiency and clean energy, begin cutting into fracked gas use in the electric sector, and power new electric vehicles and heat pumps with clean energy.
8 in 10 states now have more clean energy jobs than fossil fuel jobs, according to the clean energy jobs report that we Sierra Club released this year that received widespread media attention, including a feature story in the New York Times.
7 gigawatts of new wind projected by year’s end with lots more to come, as utilities AEP and Xcel announced the two largest wind projects in US history, and New York, Massachusetts, and Maryland made commitments to big new offshore wind projects.
6-ty (60) percent of our Paris goal - that’s the scale of carbon reductions we can achieve if we meet Beyond Coal’s targets for replacing coal with clean energy in this decade, through grassroots leadership at the city and state level.
5 thousand fewer asthma attacks every year, from just the coal plants that announced retirements in 2017 -- since 2010, coal retirements secured by the Beyond Coal Campaign and over a hundred allied organizations have prevented over 7,000 premature deaths, 10,000 heart attacks and 100,000 asthma attacks annually.
4 podcast episodes of our new series “The Land I Trust,” which I had the pleasure of narrating -- we travel through the American South to talk with folks about the coal that is fouling their air and water, the dirty energy projects they're fighting in their backyards, and a shared vision for a clean energy economy that allows all of our communities to thrive. Give it a listen on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts.
3 hundred legal actions to phase out coal and accelerate clean energy, thanks to our incredible Environmental Law Program -- find out more about their work here.
2 dozen countries calling for a coal phase out in the Powering Past Coal Alliance as part of the COP23 climate talks in Bonn, Germany, creating a watershed moment in the global effort to move beyond coal, by creating the first-ever diplomatic initiative that’s laser focused on phasing out coal as a first, essential key step to tackling the climate crisis.
...and 1 final coal export terminal blocked in the Northwest, proposed for Longview, Washington, and opposed by a massive seven-year grassroots campaign that involved over 1 million people and was led by tribal nations.
Finally, in 2017 we were honored this year to share our story with the world, and to receive essential support that will allow this work to continue. From the Ashes, the new documentary about the grassroots leaders creating a just transition from coal to clean energy, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in April and aired on the National Geographic Channel in June. Then in October, Bloomberg Philanthropies announced renewed support for the Beyond Coal Campaign for the next three years, so we can continue this progress.
As we look ahead into 2018, when the Trump Administration will redouble their efforts to line the pockets of their buddies in the fossil fuel industry, we are determined to continue this progress toward a just transition to clean energy. Join us.