Minnesota
Back to mapTo get to zero by 2050, Minnesota must cut climate pollution by
4.5 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent a year.
Emissions in Minnesota
Million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MMTCO2e) emissions
This is how we're going to do it.
- Boilers and furnaces with heat pumps
- Gas stoves with induction ranges
- No-till farming to keep CO2 in the soil
- Capturing methane leaks from landfills
- Capturing CO2 to make emissions-free concrete
- Burning green hydrogen to make emissions-free steel
- Plugging methane leaks from gas pipelines
Decarbonize Our Buildings
14% of Minnesota's climate pollution comes from buildings.
We burn fossil fuels to heat our air, water, and food.
To cut this pollution...
Let's electrify our heat!
We'll replace...
...in all of Minnesota's 2.9 million buildings.
In fact, 25% of buildings in Minnesota are already fossil fuel free!
That means we only need to electrify the remaining 2.2 million buildings in Minnesota. That's around 79,000 per year.
That cuts 14% of the pollution.
Decarbonize Our Transport
25% of Minnesota's pollution comes from cars, trucks, trains, and planes.
But mostly from cars.
To cut this pollution,
your next car must be electric.
Or consider going car-free with public transit, bikes/e-bikes, car share, or other alternatives!
Then, we'll electrify all 1.8 million cars and trucks in Minnesota!
There are 1.8 million vehicles in Minnesota and 10,000 are already electric (0.6% of the total).
We need to electrify the remaining 1.8 million vehicles. That's around 66,000 a year.
That cuts 25% of the pollution.
Decarbonize Our Power
21% of Minnesota's pollution comes from burning coal, gas, and oil to make power.
To cut this pollution...
Put solar panels on your roof!
Then, we'll replace all fossil fuel power plants with solar and wind farms.
...and find good jobs for those workers.
Current Fossil Fuel Power Plants in Minnesota
8 coal plants
Sherburne County
Sherburne County
2,469 MW
Boswell Energy Center
Itasca County
1,073 MW
Allen S King
Washington County
598 MW
Hoot Lake
Otter Tail County
138 MW
Northshore Mining Silver Bay Power
Lake County
132 MW
Hibbing
St Louis County
36 MW
Archer Daniels Midland Mankato
Blue Earth County
11 MW
Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar
Renville County
8 MW
32 gas plants
Black Dog
Dakota County
1,681 MW
High Bridge
Ramsey County
921 MW
Riverside (1927)
Hennepin County
825 MW
Mankato Energy Center
Blue Earth County
719 MW
51 oil plants
New Ulm
Brown County
79 MW
St. Bonifacius Station
Carver County
61 MW
Glencoe
McLeod County
41 MW
Maple Lake Station
Wright County
25 MW
But wait!
It's not enough to replace our power plants with wind and solar farms.
To power our electric cars and buildings, we need 2x the electricity we have today!
In all, we'll need to build 7,000 MWs of wind and 6,000 MWs of solar.
Since Minnesota already has 240 megawatts of solar power generation and 1,000 megawatts of wind power generation, that's 191 Megawatts of wind capacity AND 200 Megawatts of solar capacity a year we need to build.
That cuts 21% of the pollution.
And gives us zero-emissions power we need to eliminate pollution from buildings and cars!
Other Emissions
The last 41% of Minnesota's climate pollution comes from other sources...
This includes farming, landfills, industry, and leaks from gas pipelines.
There's no one solution to solve these problems, but there are lots of great ideas:
Ready to do your part?
Learn how to electrify your own machines and pass local policy to electrify the rest
Take Action