Kingston Fossil Plant, a coal-fired power plant operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority | Photo by Paul Harris / Getty Images
A damning new report gives American electric utilities failing grades on addressing climate change. Instead of transitioning quickly to clean energy, according to the report, many utilities in the US are propping up aging coal plants and expanding polluting gas infrastructure.
“These companies’ supposed climate commitments are mostly greenwashing,” says the report published yesterday by environmental group Sierra Club and University of California, Santa Barbara associate professor Leah Stokes. In other words, utilities are paying lip service to climate change without doing enough to actually tackle the crisis.
The assessment of US utilities includes 77 operating…