FAQ

1. What is the Carbon Plan?

The Carbon Plan comes from NC House Bill 951, which requires large reductions in carbon emissions from the energy industry in NC. The Carbon plan requires NC to reduce carbon emissions from power companies by 70% by 2030. The bill required the NC Utilities Commission (NCUC) to devise a plan by the end of 2022 for how they would reach those emission goals. The current Carbon Plan requires Duke Energy to retire its coal-fired power plants by 2035, study offshore wind power, plan for new nuclear and natural gas power plants, and more. However, House Bill 951 requires the regulators to revise the plan every 2 years. 

 

2. What is stakeholder engagement?

Stakeholder engagement is the process by which the people, communities, or other entities who may be affected by a decision are included in the decision-making process through means of hearings, meetings, and public-comment opportunities. Stakeholder engagement can look a variety of different ways and can give stakeholders differing amounts of power over the final decision, but here we are advocating for processes that don’t just inform stakeholders of decisions being made but actively pull them into and enable them to impact the processes and outcomes. 

 

3. What is the goal of this project?

Following guidance from our community advisory board, the goal of our project is to research the problems with the stakeholder engagement process of the NCUC Carbon Plan and to outline a set of principles for more just and empowering stakeholder engagement for both community stakeholders and government decision-makers to learn from and implement.

 

4. How can I be involved?

The next time you are involved in a stakeholder engagement process for any important decision being made in your community, you can refer to our Stakeholder Participation Bill of Rights as a tool to advocate for your rights as a stakeholder. Then please let us know how useful the tool is for you! Feel free to fill out a comment here and help us adjust and improve the scorecard based on your experience.

 

There are a lot of Environmental Justice and community groups in North Carolina advocating for justice in stakeholder processes like those in the Carbon Plan. You can see a list of the organizations represented by our community advisory board here, though certainly other organizations are involved as well (e.g. NC Warn, CleanAIRE NC, and Appalachian Voices). Each of these organizations has different missions and roles for volunteers and community members, so look over the list of organizations here and if there is one that centers the area you live in, that is an opportunity to engage with and organize with that group! You can also explore their websites to see if they have roles for other volunteers and supporters. 

 

5. How do I use the scorecard and bill of rights?

The Bill of Rights is meant to be a general guide on what rights are deemed necessary by environmental justice leaders, organizers, and policymakers to create a more empowering stakeholder process. The scorecard, which is based on the Bill of Rights, should be used to assess the degree to which a given process is truly inclusive, equitable, effective, and just. Stakeholders or meeting facilitators should go through each part of the checklist and ask themselves if those criteria were met throughout the stakeholder process. 

 

6. Who do I contact if I have questions?

If you have any questions feel free to reach out to Renata Kamakura (renatakamakura@gmail.com), Ryke Longest (longest@law.duke.edu), or Lee Miller (dlmiller@law.duke.edu). You can also contact the team at dukeclimatejustice@gmail.com.
 

7. Where do I find out about stakeholder meetings for the next iteration of the Carbon Plan?

A calendar of upcoming meetings and events by the NCUC can be found here.