Looking Beyond Power Generation to Achieve Electricity Sector Net‐Zero Goals

Abstract

It has long been accepted that decarbonization of the electric power sector is critical for achieving the reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions necessary for combatting the worst impacts of climate change. Electricity generation is one of the main sources of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and reducing the carbon intensity of electricity production can increase the efficacy of other decarbonization efforts, such as electrification of transportation or heating. Due to the importance of electricity decarbonization, there has been increasing public and regulatory pressure for retail electricity providers—including distribution utilities—to decarbonize, resulting in 29 of the 30 largest utilities in the United States committing to a net‐zero goal by 2050 at the latest, with some committing to the landmark as early as 2030. To achieve these net‐zero goals, load serving utilities will need to reduce emissions across their Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions as illustrated in Figure 1. Historically, utilities have primarily focused on their Scope 1 emissions, transitioning their generation and market purchases of electricity away from fossil fuels. While decarbonization of the energy generation mix is critical to achieving the reduction of emissions necessary to achieve net‐zero goals, utilities also need to make investments to decarbonize other areas of their operations if they want to make meaningful claims of achieving net‐zero.