News about Georgia's Shrinking Carbon Footprint

Footprint news
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Despite a 10% growth in GDP, Georgia reduced its carbon emissions by 5% from 2017-2021. The principal driver of the 8% drop in per capita greenhouse gas emissions between 2017 and 2021 was the PSC-endorsed retirement of coal plants. Now the biggest climate polluter is transportation. While emissions from cars dipped early in the pandemic, Georgians are back driving again. But even more problematic is the pollution from trucks that has grown 16%, primarily due to the shift to on-line retail.

 

More needs to be done, but it's good to celebrate our progress--

Request for Proposals: Tracking Climate Solutions in Georgia

Drawdown Georgia is launching a request for proposals tracking climate solutions in Georgia. This task seeks to engage a wider variety of researchers across the state in Drawdown Georgia's ongoing work. This flyer is to let people know about an opportunity to apply for research grants of $15,000 for this summer.
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On behalf of Drawdown Georgia, CEPL is pleased to announce the availability of research grants to examine
the adoption and use of high-impact climate solutions in Georgia. This solicitation invites faculty and
research associates from Georgia Universities and Colleges to submit proposals to track climate solutions
around the state. By tracking the implementation of climate solutions, we can identify places that are
leading vs lagging in adoption, winning approaches that can be replicated, and barriers that need to be

Revolutionizing Sustainability: Vision for a Greener Future

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Marilyn Brown closed out the Citizens' Climate Education's Southeast Regional Conference hosted at Georgia Tech's Kendeda Building on March 5, 2023 with a presentation that talked about how low-carbon electrification will transform the globe. The need for speed and scale requires going further faster--extending our current practices and imagining a different future. MAB at Citizens Climate Education

Poster at ER&SS Conference

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Aline Banboukian, PhD candidate, presented a poster on "The role of state and federal governance in coal plant retirements: A case study of the state of Georgia, USA" at the 3rd International Energy Research and Social Science conference in Manchester, England. Her analysis suggests that water regulations are driving coal plant retirements and CO2 reductions in Georgia. 

Aline in Manchester

Jousting with Windmills: West Virginia v. EPA

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On June 30, 2022, the Supreme Court ruled on the future of regulating pollution from the U.S. electric sector, curtailing EPA's authority to set emissions reduction targets for power plants. But the federal government has never set such targets. The Clean Power Plan (under former President Barack Obama) and the Affordable Clean Energy Rule (under former President Donald Trump) never took effect. They were “vacated and remanded.” In a sense, this ruling is like Don Quixote’s jousting with windmills; it strikes down an authority that has never been deployed. Read more

Grad Students at Georgia Tech Examine Drawdown Georgia Solutions

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In Spring 2022, student teams delivered fantastic papers and video presentations, buoyed by their wide-ranging expertise. Seven of their projects are highlighted here, and you can learn more about them by watching their 20-minute videos here at Georgia Tech’s Drawdown Georgia research portal. Here's one finding: only 7% of Georgia's solar generation comes from rooftop and small-scale solar:

Rooftop solar