PG&E pledges net-zero emissions by 2040, will keep using gas

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The nation’s largest utility on Wednesday outlined a multi-decade plan that aims to more rapidly reduce to zero its net greenhouse gas emissions while still using natural gas to produce power. Pacific Gas & Electric’s plan is to take as much carbon out of the air as it emits by 2040, five years earlier than the goal set by its home state of California and Southern California Edison, the state’s second-largest utility. Poppe said the company wants to make sure it can provide new, cleaner energy sources to customers at the “lowest cost possible.” The price per kilowatt hour that PG&E customers pay now is about 80% higher than the national average, according to a 2021 study by Next 10 and the Energy Institute at the University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business. __ This story has been corrected to say that PG&E’s 2040 net-zero goal means the utility would remove as much carbon from the atmosphere as it emits, not more carbon than it emits.