CLEAN ENERGY WEEK
2024
BY THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA
A PROCLAMATION
WHEREAS, North Carolina is moving into a clean energy future that will create jobs, reduce harmful emissions and protect our environment and our health; and
WHEREAS, North Carolina benefited from over $31.3 billion of clean energy investment between 2007 and 2022, with Duplin, Robeson, Halifax, Edgecombe, Cumberland, Northampton, and Bladen counties experiencing the greatest amount of investment—more than $500 million each; North Carolina’s colleges and universities, in coordination with local and state partners, local municipalities, business leaders, and many others, continue to advance research and innovation in clean energy technologies; and
WHEREAS, Executive Order No. 80, North Carolina’s Commitment to Address Climate Change and Transition to a Clean Energy Economy, established goals of a 40 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, a 40 percent reduction in state-owned building energy consumption, registration of 80,000 zero-emission vehicles by 2025, and directed the development of the North Carolina Clean Energy Plan which, with stakeholder input, established the goals of reducing power sector greenhouse gas emissions 70 percent by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2050; and
WHEREAS, the 2021 bipartisan energy law, Energy Solutions for North Carolina, requires regulated electric utilities to reduce carbon dioxide emissions 70 percent below 2005 levels by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050; and
WHEREAS, Executive Order No. 218, Advancing North Carolina’s Economic and Clean Energy Future with Offshore Wind, established offshore wind development targets of 2.8 gigawatts of offshore wind energy resources off the North Carolina coast by 2030 and 8.0 gigawatts by 2040; and
WHEREAS, more than 135,000 North Carolinians are employed in occupations advancing energy efficiency, renewable energy, electric transportation, energy storage, and other energy technologies, and North Carolina ranks fourth nationally for installed solar energy capacity, ninth for clean energy generation, ninth for clean energy jobs, and first for clean energy jobs in rural areas, with economic benefits in all 100 counties of the state; and
WHEREAS, clean energy improves public health by reducing air pollution and other environmental impacts that result from fossil fuel use, which often disproportionately affects communities of color, low-income residents, and indigenous communities; and
WHEREAS, the State of North Carolina encourages individuals and organizations to observe Clean Energy Week by learning about and adopting solutions that advance America’s clean energy opportunities in the 21st century;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, ROY COOPER, Governor of the State of North Carolina, do hereby proclaim September 23 – 27, 2024, as “CLEAN ENERGY WEEK” in North Carolina, and commend its observance to all citizens.
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Roy Cooper
Governor
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the Great Seal of the State of North Carolina at the Capitol in Raleigh this seventeenth day of September in the year of our Lord two thousand and twenty-four and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-ninth.