Story at a glance
- U.S. Climate Envoy John Kerry said on Tuesday the nation would move away from coal by 2030.
- The Biden administration has a separate goal of making the electricity sector carbon-free by 2035.
- Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration shows that fossil fuels — petroleum, natural gas and coal — made up about 79 percent of total U.S. primary energy production in 2020.
U.S. Climate Envoy John Kerry said on Tuesday the nation would move away from using coal by 2030.
“By 2030 in the United States, we won’t have coal,” Kerry said Tuesday during an interview with Bloomberg at the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow. “We will not have coal plants.”
“We’re saying we are going to be carbon free in the power sector by 2035,” Kerry said. “I think that’s leadership. I think that’s indicative of what we can do.”
There are roadblocks sitting in the way of Kerry’s prediction. A proposal left out of President Biden’s spending bill would have offered companies an incentive to use clean energy sources. Meanwhile, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), a pivotal swing vote, has voiced opposition to policies that hurt workers in his coal-rich state.
West Virginia is the second largest coal producing state in the U.S. behind Wyoming.
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The Biden administration has a separate goal of making the electricity sector carbon-free by 2035 as the U.S. gets approximately 25 percent of its electricity from coal, Bloomberg noted.
Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration shows that fossil fuels — petroleum, natural gas and coal — made up about 79 percent of total U.S. primary energy production in 2020.
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