Prices for large scale solar have come down by 82% since 2010,  but it takes more than good economics for utilities to shift from fossil fuels to renewables. Utility monopolies, long standing relationships with fossil fuel producers, and anachronistic tax policy cause utilities and power commissions to drag their feet.

The Sierra Club’s Beyond Dirty Fuels Campaign and Western Resource Advocates’ Climate Fix organize, advocate and litigate to convince utilities to retire dirty coal plants and purchase renewables instead of new gas plants.  Both programs help expose the true costs of coal and gas to utility owners, regional utility commissions and to communities, successfully pushing for more renewable investments.  Although these two groups sometimes differ in style, they both advocate for cities and states to set 100 percent clean energy policies and goals. They also push for the allocation of funds to support the transition of  fossil fuel workers to good jobs in other sectors of the economy. 

The Sierra Club works hard to prevent the build-out of new fossil fuel infrastructure. When new fracking wells, pipelines, new gas, petrochemical and plastic plants, liquid natural gas (LNG) export terminals and waste dumps are built, they nullify other efforts to keep global temperature increase below 1.5c (2.7 f).  

We support several frontline groups fighting fossil fuel build-out directly, as these projects are always sited in the backyards of peoples whose voices are suppressed or ignored. Fossil fuel industrial pollution drastically affects the health of communities, like in Brownsville, TX, where the Sierra Club was recently victorious in helping cancel another LNG export terminal. 

CLEAN ENERGY PROJECTS WE SUPPORT