November 5, 2015 | By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

Nearly one-third of the 2010 U.S. coal fleet has retired or is proposed to retire and as much as a half could be replaced within the next decade -- a reduction in coal use that is driving down carbon emissions in the electric sector and economy-wide to levels not seen in more than two decades. This year, carbon pollution from the electric sector is projected to fall below 2 billion tons -- with 2015 marking the lowest electric sector carbon emissions since 1995.

Credit: Gregor Buir

That is according to a new report released by the Sierra Club with the support of Bloomberg Philanthropies (to the tune of $80 million).

The report, utilizing data from the U.S. Energy Information Agency, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and independent research firm Rhodium Group, also found that the U.S. is already well below the 2015 carbon emissions target set by the 2009 Waxman-Markey climate bill, which Congress failed to pass. 

The report also finds that the U.S. power sector is well-positioned to meet the carbon emissions reduction targets established by the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan. Projected emissions for 2015 will already fall within 5 percent of the 2022 goal set by the Clean Power Plan, setting up the U.S. economy to drive deeper, faster cuts in carbon emissions while ramping up renewable energy and efficiency investments in the coming years, according to the Sierra Club.

"Thanks to the Beyond Coal campaign and the community leaders who have stood up against the coal industry, the U.S. is leading the world in cutting dangerous carbon pollution," said Michael R. Bloomberg, UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change. "The domestic reductions will give President Obama a strong negotiating hand at the U.N.'s climate summit in Paris and hopefully we can help lead the rest of the world in the same direction."

The single biggest reduction in carbon pollution in the U.S. over the past five years has come by phasing out coal, which environmentalists attribute as a direct result of the Bloomberg Philanthropies-Sierra Club partnership. The partnership pushes to accelerate the replacement of coal with clean energy, build upon the carbon reductions required by the Clean Power Plan over the next decade, and ensure that the U.S. meets and exceeds it Paris commitment to cut economy-wide carbon emissions by 26-28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025.

Since 2010, the United States has retired 41,978 MW of coal generation -- or 15 percent of installed capacity. Coal is projected to be 36 percent of electricity generation this year, down from 50 percent 10 years ago.

For more:
- see the report

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