Dive Brief:

• NRG Energy Inc. plans to reduce the company’s carbon dioxide emissions 50% by 2030 and 90% by 2050 below a 2014 baseline, using renewables and new gas generation to achieve the targets, the New York Times reports.
• The company said it will also leverage and grow core generation capabilities in a sustainable, lower carbon manner and continue to grow business and shareholder value while to works on the emissions reduction.
• NRG made the announcement alongside the groundbreaking ceremony for the company’s new “ultra-green,” grid resilient corporate headquarters in Princeton, expected to open in 2016.

Dive Insight:

NRG developed a fleet of generators based around traditional fossil fuels, but now the company is planning for massive carbon reductions that it says can be accomplished without holding back growth.

“Having already reduced our CO2 emissions by 40% since 2005, we see a clear path to further dramatic long-term reduction as we vigorously pursue our multi-faceted, long term sustainable growth strategy,” said David Crane, NRG’s CEO.

NRG is the second-largest conventional power generation company in the U.S., and has achieved significant reductions in CO2 emissions in recent years. The company said its sustainability initiatives will avoid approximately 3 billion tons of CO2 emissions by 2050. NRG will develop, own and operate renewable generation, cost-effective carbon capture and sequestration, energy storage and low carbon distributed energy resources. New natural gas generation will also play a role in supporting renewable integration.

“As the U.S. transitions to a renewables-driven, increasingly distributed, grid resilient energy system, we expect to be a leader both in clean energy and in converting the CO2 emissions of our conventional generation from a liability to a profitable by-product," Crane said.