TEXAS ENERGY CREAK

ENERGY MIX - June 4, 2023 - The city council in Austin, Texas is on the verge of signing on to the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty (FFNPT), a global campaign calling on countries to phase out fossil fuel production and help communities make the transition to a renewable energy economy.

Austin’s Joint Sustainability Committee endorsed the treaty and a list of energy innovation measures in a unanimous, 13-0 vote May 24. The resolution is on the consent agenda for a full council meeting June 6.

The measure lands in a state that has led the United States in solar and wind energy development, but where Republican legislators have recently determined that clean technologies are too “woke” for their liking. Last week, a “remarkable coalition of environmentalists, industry organizations and business groups,” including more than 50 chambers of commerce, manufacturing trade groups, and oil and gas representatives, defeated a state plan that would have crushed the renewables industries while bringing some much-needed stability to Texas’ creaking electricity grid, Canary Media reports.

Austin’s FFNPT resolution cites the health and safety risks of fossil fuel expansion, particularly for vulnerable populations, and recognizes the “urgent responsibility and moral obligation of wealthy fossil fuel producers, governments, NGOs, and the business community as a whole to lead in putting an end to fossil fuel development and to manage the decline of existing production.”

It links the measure to the city’s climate equity plan, which “includes the bold goal of equitably reaching net-zero community-wide greenhouse gas emissions and achieving 100% of electricity power supply through clean, renewable, and zero-carbon emission energy sources by 2040.”

In addition to endorsing the FFNPT, the resolution calls for a federal climate emergency plan and declaration. It also directs city-owned utility Austin Energy to boost local resilience using distributed energy resources and increase low-income rebates to cover the cost of electric appliances and heat pumps. It sets out to retire Austin Energy’s Fayette coal plant in La Grange, TX, support electric- and electric vehicle-ready buildings, and introduce an updated sustainable contracting policy.

In an email to supporters, Fossil Fuel Treaty Initiative Chair Tzeporah Berman said local endorsements are a “critical way to gain traction in the international arena. Also important is support from traditionally conservative areas historically dependent on fossil fuel production. This means that Austin’s voice will be an outsized voice in this movement to a better tomorrow.”

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