AES Corporation to reduce its use of carbon
The AES Corporation, an Arlington, Va.-based power company, will reduce its carbon intensity by 70 percent by 2030 following the recommendations made by the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).
The TCFD is an international initiative formed by the Financial Stability Board (FSB) to examine how the financial sector can best take account of climate-related issues. It is the first international initiative to examine climate change in a financial stability context. AES is the first publicly-traded owner of utilities and power companies based in the United States to disclose its portfolio’s resilience consistent with the TCFD recommendations.
AES’ goal is updated from its prior goal of a 50 percent reduction over the same period. The carbon reduction is measured in tons of carbon dioxide per megawatt-hour from a 2016 baseline.
“We are pleased to be the first publicly-traded U.S.-based energy company to issue a report adopting the TCFD recommendations,” Andrés Gluski, AES president and chief executive officer, said. “We are even more pleased to see that the results show our actions make us a more resilient company across various climate scenarios. Working with our customers, we are helping the world transition to a lower carbon energy future by accelerating the acceptance and use of energy storage, energy management, and renewables, and extending the use of natural gas to provide a cleaner alternative to other fossil fuels. As a result, we believe AES is climate transition-ready.”
AES expects to add two to three gigawatts of new capacity in renewables annually in 2020 to meet these goals. The company recently announced plans to systematically replaces coal with lower cost renewables over time. The plan accelerates access to solar and wind for existing customers while maintaining the reliability offered by the thermal assets.
