US coal for electricity fell 18% in 2019

Source: Inside Climate News

From IEEFA:

U.S. coal-fired power fell by record levels in 2019, a drop that was almost entirely responsible for the country’s 2.1% decline in greenhouse gases last year, according to preliminary data from the Rhodium Group, an independent research firm.

2019 was a “really brutal year for coal, and that is driving the emissions reductions that we see,” said Hannah Pitt, a senior analyst with Rhodium who manages the group’s U.S. Climate Service.

Coal-fired power declined 18% in 2019, according to the new research released Tuesday, in which Rhodium outlined preliminary emissions estimates for 2019. That puts U.S. coal generation at its lowest level since 1975.

Those coal retirements had a “pretty sizable” impact on emissions levels, Pitt said. Rhodium’s preliminary estimates find U.S. power sector emissions down nearly 10%, a significant reversal from the sector’s 1.2% emissions bump in 2018.

Rhodium estimates U.S. economy-wide emissions are 12.3% lower than in 2005. To reach the Obama-era Paris target, the United States would have to cut emissions between 2.8% and 3.2% each year for the next six years, a pace Pitt says is speedy but doable, though only with significantly more robust federal policy.

“There are drivers in the power sector that are pushing lower-carbon options,” Pitt said, citing market trends such as cheap natural gas and falling renewable energy costs, as well as policies such as clean energy tax credits and state-level clean energy standards.