State lawmakers reformed North Carolina’s energy policy in 2021 in the form of House Bill 951, legislation which included timeline targets for the state to achieve “carbon neutrality” by 2050. These “net-zero” pursuits and emissions-reduction targets are misguided and deleterious; lawmakers should cancel them in 2025 for a more powerful energy future.

New mandate

Instead, legislators should realign North Carolina’s energy policy with a new mandate, popularly supported by the voters of North Carolina and the nation at large — rededicating priority toward reliability and affordability in a way that puts North Carolina families and businesses first.

Such a commitment would be in keeping with the federal policy pivot being lead by the second administration of President Donald Trump.

Upon taking the oath of office earlier this week, Trump immediately moved to execute dozens of “Day One” actions to reverse or mitigate the harmful policies of the prior administration. Several of these executive actions concerned energy and climate.

In one executive order, Trump declares a “National Energy Emergency,” targeting for reversal the same sort of “shortsighted” policies North Carolina has adopted regarding energy.

“We need a reliable, diversified, and affordable supply of energy to drive our Nation’s manufacturing, transportation, agriculture, and defense industries, and to sustain the basics of modern life and military preparedness,” the order reads. “Caused by the harmful and shortsighted policies of the previous administration, our Nation’s inadequate energy supply and infrastructure causes and makes worse the high energy prices that devastate Americans, particularly those living on low- and fixed-incomes.”

In another, the Trump administration ordered a temporary withdrawal of all areas on the Outer Continental Shelf from offshore wind leasing. Such a halt complicates a recent push by the NC Energy Policy Council and Duke Energy into offshore wind, a vector specifically pursued to satisfy the Carbon Plan.

“To support the deployment of offshore wind as an innovative energy resource and to support and secure a reliable and resilient energy future in North Carolina, the Council encourages state policymakers to consider offshore wind in addition to other long-lead generation resources,” reads the Council’s Biennial Report submitted to the legislature in late 2024.

In yet another order, the Trump administration pulled out of the Paris Climate Agreement (again), citing the nation’s ability to simultaneously grown its economy, increase wages, increase energy production, reduce air and water pollution, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions without sacrificing itself to a supranational authority.

Legislative majorities in the Tar Heel State — which Trump won three times in a row, mind you — should similarly unleash North Carolina’s energy policy from the anchor of carbon neutrality. Removing this weight will help our state contribute to “a reliable, diversified, and affordable supply of energy to drive our Nation’s manufacturing, transportation, agriculture, and defense industries, and to sustain the basics of modern life and military preparedness.”

All cost, no benefit

“The Utilities Commission shall take all reasonable steps to achieve a seventy percent (70%) reduction in emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted in the State from electric generating facilities owned or operated by electric public utilities from 2005 levels by the year 2030 and carbon neutrality by the year 2050,” reads the relevant statute that holds up the state’s carbon plan.

The practical effect of such green ambitions, originally proposed in former Gov. Roy Cooper’s Clean Energy Plan and embraced by Republican leadership in the state legislature, has been to complicate the mission of the North Carolina Utilities Commission.

Instead of a concerted focus on enabling reliable, affordable energy for the citizens of this state — an historical advantage that’s helped drive economic growth and development in our state — the Utilities Commission (and the utility companies they regulate) must labor under the arbitrary strictures of a “Carbon Plan” in their efforts to meet rapidly increasing demand.

No doubt, the growing population and electrification of our state requires major increases in energy generation. Luckily, energy sources and technologies like natural gas or nuclear are more than equipped to meet this new and projected demand. But for every addition of robust, reliable energy to the mix, the unnecessary exaltation of carbon neutrality requires regulators to enact green countermeasures that undermine reliability and affordability in the name of emissions reduction.

These anti-carbon policies have made energy in North Carolina more expensive and less reliable than it needs to be. Projected cost increases in the pursuit of carbon neutrality could mean energy bills for families and businesses in North Carolina double before the end of the next rate case in 2026. All the while, the myopic policy attack on carbon provides no tangible benefit for the environment or the people of North Carolina.

As pointed out by Jon Sanders — director of the Center for Food, Power, and Life, at the John Locke Foundation — North Carolina’s emissions are already lower than they were 20 years ago, by a lot.

Data released in November by the U.S. Energy Information Administration show that North Carolina’s emissions from electricity continue to fall — yes, fall — as they have been doing all century long,” writes Sanders. “They have declined significantly, now by more than half.”

energize NC

Unshackling our energy policy from the destructive conceit of carbon neutrality should be a top priority for lawmakers committed to a more prosperous North Carolina.

In an age of advancing technology, new economies, and old economic frustrations, committing to a least-cost path for abundant energy is the most straightforward path to invigorating our future. Whether it’s attracting new high-energy businesses, like data centers, allowing for a more traditional manufacturing resurgence; or lowering energy costs and uncertainty for families, canceling the misguided allegiance to carbon neutrality is vital to empowering the people of North Carolina, now and in the future.