Washington, D.C. — With oral arguments on the Clean Power Plan scheduled for next week in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, the Center for American Progress released a short analysis of the benefits of the Clean Power Plan for the climate and human health.
CAP reviewed modeling completed by the Energy Information Administration, or EIA, to understand how the Clean Power Plan will change the U.S. electricity mix. The EIA data show that the Clean Power Plan will expedite the deployment of renewable energy. Between 2015 and 2030, electricity generation from renewable sources will grow 4.7 percent annually with implementation of the Clean Power Plan, up from 3.9 percent without it.
“The Clean Power Plan will move the United States more swiftly down the path toward a carbon-free energy future,” said Alison Cassady, CAP Director of Domestic Energy Policy and co-author of the analysis.
The shift toward cleaner energy sources will reduce pollution. According to EIA’s data, the Clean Power Plan will reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the electric power sector 18 percent from 2015 levels by 2030. In contrast, without the Clean Power Plan, power plants would emit more carbon in 2030 than they did in 2015. Other harmful pollution will fall as well. The EIA data show that by 2030, the Clean Power Plan will reduce mercury emissions from the power sector by 31 percent over business as usual without the standards.
Read the analysis: 3 Reasons to Support the Clean Power Plan, and 1 Reason to Do Even More by Alison Cassady and Myriam Alexander-Kearns
For more information on this topic or to speak with an expert, contact Tom Caiazza at [email protected] or 202.481.7141.