Metric and Method for Comparing Investments to Decarbonize the Electricity System

The document provides a practical guide and analytic method for comparing the climate-effectiveness of different investments intended to displace coal-fired electricity, emphasizing that both emissions and costs must be combined to make sound climate protection choices.

• The guide introduces a metric for 'Climate Effectiveness', defined as the amount of carbon saved per dollar spent. According to the document's worked examples, there can be differences in this effectiveness ranging from manyfold to over 50-fold between common options, depending on costs and relative emissions.
• The proposed analytic method requires only basic arithmetic and a hand calculator. It is designed to be applicable to any resource comparison involving emissions or other consequences and can be updated using local conditions or different data sources.
• The guide utilizes U.S. market cost data from the third quarter of 2019 for its four worked examples and briefly reviews additional factors influencing resource choices, such as the relative speed of deployment.

APA

RMI (2019). Metric and Method for Comparing Investments to Decarbonize the Electricity System. https://rmi.org/resources/decarbonizing-the-electricity-system/

Chicago

RMI. Metric and Method for Comparing Investments to Decarbonize the Electricity System. 2019. https://rmi.org/resources/decarbonizing-the-electricity-system/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=Metric and Method for Comparing Investments to Decarbonize the Electricity System |date=24 September 2019 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/decarbonizing-the-electricity-system/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2019metric, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{Metric and Method for Comparing Investments to Decarbonize the Electricity System}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2019}, month = sep, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/decarbonizing-the-electricity-system/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }