The Climate Opportunity of Clean Energy Portfolios

This policy brief by RMI argues that the United States can reduce carbon emissions and lower consumer costs by replacing proposed new natural gas power plants with 'clean energy portfolios' consisting of zero-emissions technologies.

• 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 CO2-equivalent (CO2e) per year, an increase of about 85 percent over the CO2 figure.
• The emissions from new gas plants proposed for the next five years would consume at least 13 percent of the total annual carbon budget for the US economy, based on an indicative goal of reducing 2005 emission levels by 80 percent.
• Avoiding the construction of 90 percent of proposed gas plants and utilizing clean energy portfolios would result in a net present value saving of over $29 billion for US electricity customers.
• To prevent the most catastrophic climate impacts, there is a consensus that the US needs to reduce emissions by at least 80 percent of 2005 levels by 2050, which requires transitioning from fossil fuels in buildings and vehicles to a low-carbon grid.

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} }