The Climate Opportunity of Clean Energy Portfolios

The policy brief contends that new natural gas capacity is a primary driver of increased grid emissions in the US and that avoiding 90% of proposed gas plants could save electricity customers over $29 billion. It advocates for a transition to 'clean energy portfolios'—combinations of wind, solar, batteries, demand flexibility, and energy efficiency—to support economy-wide decarbonization and meet international climate targets.

• Proposed investments of $70 billion in new gas plants through 2025 in the United States would lead to an annual increase of 100 million tons of CO2 emissions.
• When accounting for upstream methane leakage during extraction and transportation, the total greenhouse gas emissions from proposed new gas plants would rise to approximately 185 million tons of CO2e.
• The emissions from new gas plants proposed for construction over the next five years would consume at least 13% of the total annual carbon budget required to reach an 80% reduction of 2005 emission levels by 2050.
• Avoiding the construction of 90% of proposed gas plants would result in net present value savings of over $29 billion for US electricity customers.
• Clean energy portfolios consisting of wind, solar, batteries, demand flexibility, and energy efficiency can provide equivalent reliability and lower costs compared to new gas investments.

APA

RMI (2019). The Climate Opportunity of Clean Energy Portfolios. https://rmi.org/resources/the-climate-opportunity-of-clean-energy-portfolios/

Chicago

RMI. The Climate Opportunity of Clean Energy Portfolios. 2019. https://rmi.org/resources/the-climate-opportunity-of-clean-energy-portfolios/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=The Climate Opportunity of Clean Energy Portfolios |date=23 September 2019 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/the-climate-opportunity-of-clean-energy-portfolios/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2019climate, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{The Climate Opportunity of Clean Energy Portfolios}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2019}, month = sep, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/the-climate-opportunity-of-clean-energy-portfolios/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }