Research Question
How will the “clean energy transition”—that is, the process of transitioning from traditional coal and gas generation to low-carbon or carbon-free generation—address legacy environmental impacts, today’s environmental challenges, and advance society towards an environmentally just future?
Key Points
- Addressing ongoing environmental impacts of fossil fuel generation is a central aspect of global climate change discussions and may inform decision-making at the country, state, and company levels. However, it may not be feasible to immediately remove fossil fuels from the generation mix until firm, dispatchable lowcarbon resources can be deployed at scale.
- The use of existing financial cost-benefit analyses as primary policymaking and regulatory tools may not appropriately estimate the total costs and benefits of investments relating to clean energy, especially in regard to long-term environmental and human health impacts.
- Remediation of many legacy environmental damages has been largely successful, but there are remaining legacy impacts and emerging challenges as decarbonization accelerates to meet state, national, and international climate goals.
- The clean energy transition presents an opportunity to include affected communities and incorporate their input throughout all aspects of investment decision-making processes.