Allowances | Price Collar | Targets and Timetables | Offsets

Targets and Timetables

Setting reasonable and achievable emissions reductions targets and timetables that align with the availability of climate-friendly technologies will help to reduce the cost increases to all electricity consumers.

• Energy efficiency, renewable energy, and natural gas-based generating plants are the resources available to meet near-term targets.

• Medium-term targets should be set in the 10- to 15-year timeframe after enactment of federal legislation, in order to match up with and enable technology development (e.g., new nuclear and advanced coal technologies with carbon capture and storage).

• The longer-term target—80 percent below current levels by 2050—will require all of these technologies for the electric power sector, plus emissions reductions in other sectors of the economy.

To make sharp short- and mid-term emissions reductions without these technologies, electric companies would be forced to switch from using coal to using large amounts of natural gas. This massive fuel switching would strain natural gas supply, driving up natural gas prices and exposing consumers to sharply higher heating and air conditioning bills. And, industries that use natural gas would be less competitive in global markets, making it even more likely that U.S. jobs would be exported overseas.

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