Working Together to Build a Competitive, Clean Economy

The Tennessee Valley Authority and University of Tennessee Baker School of Public Policy and Public Affairs launched the Valley Pathways Study in February 2023 to evaluate the existing environmental landscape and explore opportunities to reduce carbon emissions and create a competitive, sustainable economy. The study brought together 24 participants from multiple sectors, including transportation, agriculture, industry, municipalities, state agencies, academia, and others. Participants shared their perspectives and idea for how we can work together to achieve net-zero emissions for future generations.

Key Findings

The study defined commonly agreed upon facts for causes of greenhouse gas emissions and examined what it would truly take to get to net-zero by 2050. The study found that partnerships across all sectors of the economy will be crucial to success. Every sector has an impact. Working together, we identified these key insights:

• The region is home to about 3 percent of the U.S. population, which corresponds to 3 percent of emissions in the U.S.
• Consistent with national data, the transportation sector is the largest source of emissions in the region.
• Electricity generation produces approximately 27 percent of emissions.
• Buildings and industry emissions include only non-electricity emissions (such as furnaces and industrial processes) but use nearly 100% of electricity generated in the Valley.

View the Findings Report

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