By Sue Sturgis
According to the new assessment from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change — which found that global climate change is intensifying, driven by human activity, and causing extreme weather — number of years since there was as much carbon in Earth’s atmosphere: 2 million
Degrees Celsius by which Earth’s temperature has risen since the late 19th century due to human activity, with some future warming locked in due to greenhouse gas levels already in the atmosphere: 1.1
To limit Earth’s temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius and avoid warming’s worst impacts, year by which the report says human society must transition to net zero greenhouse emissions: 2050
Percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions that come from the electricity sector: 25
Among the top carbon-emitting U.S electric utilities, tied ranking of Charlotte, North Carolina-based Duke Energy and Atlanta-based Southern Company, which owns Alabama Power, Georgia Power, and Mississippi Power: 1
Percent of Southern Company’s electricity now generated by burning fossil fuels, including coal and gas: 68
Percent of Duke Energy’s current electric generation that comes from burning fossil fuels: 75
Average annual percent by which Southern Company plans to reduce its carbon emissions through 2030: 0.79
Average annual percent by which Duke Energy aims to cut carbon emissions over the same period: 1.61
In comparison, average annual percent reduction that Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy — the first major utility to commit to being carbon-free by 2050 — is trying to achieve over that same period: 5.91
Under Duke Energy’s current plans, percent of its generating capacity that will come from fossil gas in 2050: 23