A Record Setting Year for Clean Energy and Decline of U.S. Reliance on Coal

Reducing America’s reliance on energy from coal and moving towards cleaner, alternative energy sources is central to the Bloomberg Philanthropies’ environmental work. By partnering with the Sierra Club to launch the Beyond Coal campaign, our support is helping to move the U.S. off of coal by 2020. Today, the Sierra Club today announced the following major news:

2013 was a momentous year for clean energy, as solar and wind generation hit record highs, prices plummeted, and wind and solar took on increased market share from coal. Installation of renewable energy capacity outpaced coal, oil, and nuclear growth combined. The coal industry saw numerous setbacks, and nationwide thirty percent of existing coal plants in the United States are now announced to retire — 158 plants, representing over 20% of the nation’s coal power. Not a single coal plant has broken ground over the past three years.

With an overarching goal to move America off coal and slash carbon pollution no later than 2030, an unprecedented coalition including Sierra Club and more than a hundred local, regional and national organizations has helped to secure a record number of coal plant retirements. The campaign now includes legal and grassroots fights to transition to cleaner and more modern sources of power in more than forty states and has grown to become one of the largest and broadest grassroots environmental campaigns in the nation’s history.

This year, more than 2,000 activists nationwide showed up to EPA hearings to protect the public from carbon pollution, and more than 10,000 showed up to oppose coal exports out of the Pacific Northwest. And over 200,000 people submitted comments to curb coal pollution and invest in clean energy. “Thanks to the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign, American citizens will breathe cleaner, healthier air this holiday season,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies which has committed $50 million to the campaign. “Coal use is down in almost every region of the country, and carbon pollution is at its lowest level in almost two decades. We have a lot to celebrate – and a lot more work still to do.” To read the Sierra Club’s full release, click here.