The US drive to decarbonize is at an inflection point. Critical actions could accelerate the transition while enhancing energy affordability and supporting inclusive economic growth.

Mckinsey identified six action areas that they believe are critical to enabling a more orderly net-zero transition. Such a transition includes near-term emissions reductions that would rapidly put the United States on a 1.5° pathway

1. Designing and deploying a capital-efficient and affordable system
2. Strengthening supply chains to provide stable access to raw materials, components, and skilled labor
3. Securing access to adequate land with high load factors for the deployment of renewables while taking into account the needs of local communities
4. Reforming transmission development to include proactive planning, fast-track permitting, and systematic consideration of transmission alternatives
5. Creating market mechanisms for expanding firm capacity to ensure reliable and adequate clean-energy supply
6. Accelerating technological innovation to ensure timely deployment of new clean technologies

BOTTOMLINE

1. The United States’ accelerating momentum toward an energy transition puts it, at long last, on a path to achieving necessary decarbonization, even though the short-term global headwinds cannot be ignored.
2. If carefully planned and executed—with attention to socioeconomic impacts and affordability concerns; supply chain, transmission, and land constraints; technological innovation; and enabling market mechanisms—the United States can make marked progress toward a relatively more orderly energy transition