Topic: us policy

The largest electric power industry trade group, the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), produced a slide in 2010 (updated in May 2011) that purports to display an onslaught of new requirements for power plants. WRI has identified four categories of EPA activities on the EEI timeline that are potentially misleading. This fact sheet updates the analysis done in our earlier response to EEI’s timeline of environmental regulations.

The Open Climate Network (OCN) is an independent, international partnership that tracks and reports on the progress of key countries on climate change. OCN analysis is prepared by partners around the world covering climate finance, mitigation policy, and clean technology.

The U.S. FSF contribution of $5.1B reflects a positive effort made in challenging political and economic circumstances, but there is more to be done. Congress and key agencies have increased funding for climate change objectives relative to the pre-FSF period, and have begun to integrate climate considerations into ongoing portfolios. The global economic recession and the resulting pressure to cut spending, however, combined with an active subset of policy-makers who oppose U.S. action on climate change, have impeded further increases to climate finance.

The U.S. electric power system is gradually shifting toward cleaner forms of generation. One sign of this transition is the declining use of coal for electric power production. This fact sheet examines the reasons for this transition and potential results.