As Congress Prepares To Move Forward With Reconciliation Bill, Evergreen Shows How It Can Unlock Power Sector Decarbonization Through a Clean Electricity Payment Program (CEPP) and Complementary Investments
New Memo Expands On Evergreen and Data For Progress’ Influential Roadmap to 100% Clean Electricity by 2035 Report
Today, Evergreen Action released A Roadmap to 100% Clean Electricity by 2035: August Update, a new memo detailing the Clean Electricity Payment Program (CEPP) that was included in Senate Democrats’ $3.5 trillion budget resolution, along with complementary investments that will help decarbonize the power sector. The memo builds on Evergreen and Data for Progress’ influential Roadmap to 100% Clean Electricity by 2035 report from February, with new context and insights into how Senate Democrats have charted the course to 100% carbon-free electricity.
The CEPP is an investment program designed to achieve the goals of President Biden’s proposed Clean Electricity Standard (CES) by putting us on the path to 100% carbon-free electricity by 2035, by reaching an interim goal of 80% clean electricity by 2030. The program utilizes a carrot and stick approach, with federal investments in electric utilities to incentivize year over year growth in their clean energy portfolio coupled with financial penalties to ensure that utilities don’t fall behind in their transition to carbon-free power sources. Evergreen has previously noted that passage of a CES or CEPP can create millions of new good-paying jobs, eliminate poisonous air pollution, and reduce utility bills for ratepayers across the country.
“Getting pollution out of our power sector will prevent hundreds of thousands of premature deaths, put money back into consumers' pockets with cheaper, cleaner energy, and create millions of good jobs building clean energy in communities across the country,” said Evergreen Action Co-Director Sam Ricketts. “The CEPP is the most powerful tool in our toolbox to reduce America’s carbon pollution and help us avoid the worst impacts of the climate crisis—and now it’s up to President Biden and Congressional Democrats to get it across the finish line. For the first time in more than a decade, federal lawmakers have a real opportunity to invest in a just and thriving clean energy economy. We can’t afford to let it slip away.”
Decarbonizing America’s power sector is essential to meet our climate goals, and the CEPP is the best policy to make it happen. It would achieve over half of President Biden’s commitment to reduce America’s greenhouse gas pollution by at least 50% by 2030. And if the CEPP is paired with simultaneous efforts to electrify buildings, transportation, and parts of heavy industry, the transition to 100% clean electricity could ultimately drive 70-80% reductions in America’s climate pollution.
Transitioning to a carbon pollution free power grid with a CEPP isn’t just key to fighting the climate crisis, it’s also overwhelmingly popular with voters across the country. According to polling from Data for Progress, nearly two thirds of likely voters nationwide support a transition to 100% clean electricity by 2035—and that support is strong across key swing states including Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Montana, New Hampshire, and West Virginia.
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