In two reports released April 28, Duke Energy updated its efforts to address climate change. Duke Energy intends to cut carbon emissions to net-zero by 2050 and moved toward that goal last year. The company cut carbon emissions an additional 8% in 2019 from 2005 levels, for a total reduction of 39%.
Learn more about Duke Energy’s environmental, social and governance initiatives:
Renewable energy plays a big role in getting to those goals and the company announced plans to double its renewable energy portfolio within five years. In 2019, the company owned, operated or contracted more than 8,000 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy capacity. The company’s new goal is 16,000 MW by the end of 2025.
In addition to renewable energy, to make its carbon reduction goals, the company must continue to retire coal-fired plants and rely on existing nuclear and natural gas generation to maintain reliability and affordability.
As the company highlighted in its Sustainability Report, helping customers manage their energy use is one of the company’s long-standing programs. Smart meters have been installed for more than 80% of the company’s customers, about 2 million meters in 2019. The meters provide real-time information so customers can make better decisions about how they use energy.
The company also unveiled other programs to engage customers, including an interactive outage map for restoration information, and a mobile app to pay bills, check outage status and start, stop or transfer service on the go.
