NCSEA Applauds Governor Cooper’s Clean Energy Vision via Executive Order #80

Today, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper reaffirmed our state’s commitment to a clean energy future. Executive Order #80, signed by the Governor this afternoon during a press conference at SAS, sets forth his vision for North Carolina’s future—one of increased resilience in the face of devastating natural disasters and a thriving clean energy economy. NCSEA shares this vision for North Carolina, and we applaud the Governor for his leadership.

“Clean energy has quickly become a very important sector of our state’s thriving economy and it’s also a central part of addressing our changing climate and the extreme weather events such as the two ‘500-year floods’ and devastating hurricanes that have hit North Carolina in the last two years,” said Ivan Urlaub, Executive Director of the NC Sustainable Energy Association. “Our state’s clean energy industry and its approximately 50,000 workers have the power to create additional business and investment opportunities while expanding customers’ access to renewable energy, electric vehicles and energy-saving technologies in the years to come.”

Following legislators’ leadership with Senate Bill 3 in 2007 and House Bill 589 in 2017, Governor Cooper’s Executive Order is an integral next step in expanding North Carolina’s clean energy future. By setting three targets to achieve by 2025—increasing zero-emission vehicles on the road to 80,000; reducing energy consumption in state-owned buildings by 40 percent (from 2002-2003 baseline); and achieving a 40 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 2005 levels—we now have a common goal to work toward.

“No single one of us can achieve these important goals and resulting benefits on our own – it will take all of us working together, which is our track record with successful clean energy policies over the last decade,” Urlaub concluded. “NCSEA looks forward to working with Governor Cooper and his Administration, legislators, local elected officials and other important stakeholders to expand our clean energy economy, which will benefit all North Carolinians and communities across North Carolina, urban and rural.”