Energy Companies & Climate Change
Utilities are making investments and operational improvements to protect their energy infrastructure from increasingly disruptive climate conditions. Extreme weather affects energy production and deliveries, such as when large storms shutdown refineries or power.
Power utilities across the country, from Minnesota to Georgia, are also increasingly investing in clean power and committing to steep carbon pollution cuts. The world’s largest oil companies are also investing in clean energy, incorporating climate risks into their investment decisions and advocating for climate policies.
An analysis of 28 years of power outage data shows extreme weather events are causing more major U.S. power outages.
Source: Climate Central
Fast Facts
%
of U.S. electricity is carbon free
U.S. power utilities have zero emissions goals
%
less carbon pollution from U.S. power plants since 2005
Heard Around the Country
BP’s new CEO sets net-zero carbon goal to fight climate change
BP's new CEO Bernard Looney set a goal to reduce the company's greenhouse gas emissions and become a net-zero carbon company by 2050. In a Wednesday morning statement, BP said the company aims to fight climate change by reducing the carbon footprint from its global...
Moody’s gives Xcel ‘red flag’ for water stress because of climate change in Southwest states
Xcel Energy is among the U.S. electric utilities most exposed to an increased risk from climate change, notably its power plants in the West and Southwest, according to a new report from one of the nation’s top credit-rating agencies. Over the next 10 to 20 years, the...
Why the October insanity will happen again in the SF Bay Area
October was insane. In Northern California, the month was marked by desiccating offshore winds that fueled wildfires and prompted deliberate power outages, forcing tens of thousands to flee their homes and putting millions of others in the dark for days on end. More...
How are climate & weather different?
Where is there scientific agreement?
How much warming has happened?
Visualizing Climate Change
Sources and Citations
- McKinsey & Company. Why, and how, utilities should start to manage climate-change risks. www.mckinsey.com/industries/electric-power-and-natural-gas/our-insights/why-and-how-utilities-should-start-to-manage-climate-change-risk
- Edison Electric Institute. Climate. www.eei.org/issuesandpolicy/environment/climate
- Xcel Energy. Building a Carbon-Free Future Our bold vision for 2030 and 2050. www.xcelenergy.com/Environment/Carbon_Reduction_Plan
- Southern Company. Climate. www.southerncompany.com/corporate-responsibility/environment/air-and-climate.html
- ExxonMobil. Climate change. http://www.corporate.exxonmobil.com/energy-and-environment/environmental-protection/climate-change
Media
- Top Photo: Senior Airman Kyle Gese, U.S. Air Force.
- Bottom Photo: Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Martin Cuaron, U.S. Navy.
- Climate Central. Weather-Related Blackouts Doubled Since 2003: Report. www.climatecentral.org/news/weather-related-blackouts-doubled-since-2003-report-17281
- Video: Vox Media. New York is building a wall to hold back the ocean.