"Chicanery": Selling Coal Plants That Continue To Run W. New Owners Doesn't Actually Cut Emissions
The Gavin power plant, a coal-burning juggernaut straddling the north bank of the Ohio River, is one of the dirtiest power plants in America. It was owned by American Electric Power Co. until 2017, when the Ohio-based utility sold the behemoth amid a sustained drop in wholesale power prices. Unloading Gavin had another benefit: It made AEP appear substantially greener.
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Despite the progress claimed by AEP executives, their efforts to appear greener to investors had little effect on the atmosphere. Gavin has continued to belch CO2 into the atmosphere in the years since its sale. In fact, only six power plants in the United States emitted more CO2 between 2017 and 2019, according to an E&E News review of EPA data.
Power plant emissions are supposed to follow their owner, according to most accounting guidelines for greenhouse gases. In the Gavin example, AEP should have removed the massive coal plant's emissions from its annual CO2 tallies prior to 2017. The plant's new owners, by contrast, should have added its CO2 totals into their historic emissions tallies. The accounting gimmick creates the illusion of an emissions reduction that exists only on paper. It also highlights a larger problem: The guidelines governing public emissions reporting are vague and voluntary, enabling companies to embellish their reductions, while making it difficult to compare one utility with another.
In AEP's case, the utility would have reported a 55% reduction in CO2 between 2000 and 2019 if it had followed general industry practices. Instead, company officials told investors that it had achieved a 65% cut in carbon emissions. AEP isn't the only utility that inflates its emissions reductions. Three of the top five power sector emitters in the United States use accounting metrics that enhance their cuts, according to an E&E News review of EPA data and company financial filings.
Many companies, like Vistra Corp., measure their emissions reductions against years when CO2 soared, making those cuts appear slightly larger. Southern Co., another top five emitter, also counts the emissions of divested facilities up until the date of sale. The accounting chicanery reflects the rising level of public pressure on power companies to cut CO2. So-called ESG investors, who prize performance in environmental, social and corporate governance factors alongside returns, wield increasing influence on Wall Street.
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https://www.eenews.net/stories/1063722807
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