Georgia leaders respond to clean energy threats from Trump’s climate agreement withdrawal
A vibrant, green energy lined the halls under the Georgia Capitol’s gold dome Monday.
One week after President Donald Trump withdrew from the Paris Accords, Georgia Conservation Voters and environmental lobbyists pressed their elected officials to continue combating the climate crisis.
“This is a momentous time in history for energy,” Brionté McCorkle, executive director of Georgia Conservation Voters said. “We have been making lots of progress reducing carbon emissions from the energy sector for many decades. What’s happening now is threatening to undo it all.”
McCorkle is referring to the Trump administration freezing funds to the Inflation Reduction Act and his withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement. The climate agreement is a global pact to keep the planet’s average temperature from increasing by more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit above pre-industrial levels.
“Georgia is one of the top beneficiaries of the Inflation Reduction Act,” she said. “It’s completely under attack. It’s really up to leadership here in the state to continue to protect progress we made, continue to protect the people of Georgia, and create safer, more affordable forms of energy.”
Since 2021, more than $32 billion dollars have been invested in clean energy projects in Georgia, the most of any state in the country, according to the Department of Energy.
Lobbyists held green signs, “Keeping it 100”, referring to keeping momentum for clean or renewable energy to be at 100%.
Georgia’s energy makeup is 13% renewable, mainly solar, according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency.
State Rep. Kim Schofield, who serves southern Atlanta, introduced a bill, HR-67, Monday to help meet future demand for jobs in renewable energy.
“I dropped legislation today to adopt clean and green jobs by 2050,” she told the news conference. “We’re committed to keepin’ it 100.”
“My hope is this is a stepping stone to transition us from fossil fuels to clean energy by 2050 by creating work force development that addresses climate change,” she told the Ledger-Enquirer. “We want to make sure this is top of the line because, for a state such as Georgia, this bill looks at the economic, environment and social benefits for renewable energy.”
Schofield introduced in 2021 the first bill in the Georgia Legislature to establish a statewide target of 100% clean energy by 2050. She did so again in 2024. Both times it died in committee.
“Unfortunately, being in the minority, we are not given hearings and votes on our bills to move them out of committee,” Schofield said in an email to the Ledger-Enquirer. “I often resort to filing each bill and trying to get bipartisan support.”
Just 13 states have made a 100% clean or renewable goal, such as Michigan and Minnesota, which committed to carbon-free by 2040, or Washington, which committed to 100% zero emissions by 2045. Rhode Island has a goal of 100% renewable energy electricity by 2033.
“But 29 states have renewable electricity standards, clean electricity standards,” said Johanna Newman, senior director of Environment America. “Those commitments require utility companies to get a certain percentage of electricity from clean/renewable sources.”
Georgia has no statewide clean energy, carbon-free or renewable energy commitments.
Georgia Power, the state’s largest electric utility, serving 2.7 million people, “anticipates” 50% of the energy they produce in the next five years will be carbon-free. There are six oil and gas plants and two coal plants that provide 46% and 16% of Georgia Power’s energy mix.
State Rep. Carolyn Hugley, the Democratic House Minority Leader from Columbus, spoke at the Georgia Conservation Voter Renewable Advocacy Day news conference about her plans this session.
“(House Democrats) will promote renewable energy statewide,” she said. “The health and sustainability of our environment is a cultural and fundamental responsibility to us here on the Democratic side of the General Assembly. While Republicans have mainly ignored this issue, House Democrats have been working hard to promote and utilize clean sources of energy in our state.”
She called her agenda an “opportunity agenda” allowing all Georgians a chance to thrive “no matter their zip code”.
Hugley said the biggest cities in the state, like Atlanta, Athens and Savannah, have pledged 100% clean energy commitments by 2035. But she left out her home city, Columbus – the second-largest in Georgia.
Columbus still has no clean energy commitments, despite Mayor Skip Henderson saying he would bring this up to Columbus Council in November 2024.
“I encourage Columbus to follow our neighbors in other cities to make Columbus a clean energy place as well,” Hugley told the Ledger-Enquirer after the news conference. “That’s our challenge, and we can continue to work on that.”
But is a state or city level commitment more productive?
“It’s both and not either or,” McKorkle said. “… Because the Republican-led legislature has not prioritized clean energy, and the state doesn’t pass a clean energy resolution, the city commitment has a role to play and can put pressure on the state. But, what I’ve seen with state-level commitments is a few years after it passed it has teeth and starts to move the state forward.”
This story was originally published January 29, 2025 at 8:26 AM.
