A fact sheet by the Sierra Club explains how an unprecedented wave of coal plant retirements has sent U.S. carbon emissions trending decisively downward, helping the United States deliver a strong pledge at this year’s Paris climate conference. The Sierra Club, which runs the MacArthur-supported Beyond Coal campaign aimed at replacing dirty coal-fired power plants with clean energy, says the downward trend in carbon emissions will meet or exceed the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan’s 2030 target as much as five years ahead of schedule. The fact sheet provides a quantitative analysis of these declining emissions, and finds that coal plant retirements in 2015 alone equal as much coal capacity as the United States retired in the 20-year period between 1990 and 2009.
