Carbon Capture and Pennsylvania’s Energy Future

In 2017, PEC convened a gathering of technical and policy experts from around the Commonwealth and across the U.S. to explore a complex problem: how can Pennsylvania, as the nation’s largest net exporter of electricity, substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power generation in time to forestall the worst effects of climate change?

The Achieving Deep Carbon Reductions conference touched off an ongoing series of policy discussions around decarbonizing Pennsylvania’s electricity sector, culminating in a 2019 white paper that identified five concrete steps the state could take immediately toward a cleaner energy future. Over the past year, Pennsylvania has moved forward on several recommendations included in that report, including the adoption of a carbon pricing system via participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI).

Last week, we helped push the conversation forward on another key recommendation: encouraging technological innovation not only to reduce energy consumption and attendant emissions, but also to capture and store carbon dioxide before it enters the atmosphere. PEC President Davitt Woodwell was one of three panelists featured in a June 5 webinar co-organized by PEC and hosted by the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES), discussing the potential of carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) as part of Pennsylvania’s emerging decarbonization strategy. We encourage anyone interested in the subject to check out the webinar video shared by C2ES.

To learn more about PEC’s work on deep decarbonization, visit pecpa.org/climate.