Atlanta says clean energy goals too costly, need to be stepped back

In Georgia, the Atlanta City Council is reconsidering the 2025 and 2035 clean energy goals that were voted for unanimously last year. The city’s Utilities Committee offered a resolution to push back those deadlines to 2035 for municipal operations and 2050 for the entire city due to a cost-benefit analysis. The analysis, conducted by the Mayor’s Office of Resilience, showed that the original goals of 100% clean energy for municipal operations by 2025 for the entire city by 2035 would cost the city and its residents too much financially.

“The original deadline of 2025 and 2035 will be very costly to impose and require a considerable amount of RECs (Renewable Energy Credits),” Stephanie Stuckey, who stepped down as the director of the Office of Resilience on May 31, told BizJournals. “The original resolution was poorly drafted without real input from our office,” Stuckey said. “We would have never promoted such unrealistic and costly deadlines.”