A year has passed since the Sierra Club and Bloomberg Philanthropies announced an historic partnership to move the country “Beyond Coal.”  With a  stated goal of retiring a third of the 500 coal-fired power plants in the U.S. by 2020, the partnership is making good progress. To date, 112 coal-fired plants have announced their retirement, which will prevent an estimated 2,166 deaths, 3,426 heart attacks, and 35,210 asthma attacks annually. 

“We are clearly witnessing the end of our dependency on coal and the move toward a cleaner energy future,” said Michael Bloomberg. Bloomberg Philanthropies contributed $50 million to the Beyond Coal Campaign. The partnership also set forth the goal to reduce toxic mercury pollution from coal by 90% and recently helped defend the EPA’s mercury and air toxic standards for power plants. 

“The past year has seen record highs for clean energy development and record lows for dirty coal use,” said Michael Brune, Executive Director of the Sierra Club. “Communities around the country are showing that there is vast demand for clean energy and the jobs that clean energy will provide. Thanks to the efforts of millions of people who are involved in this campaign, we are slashing toxic pollution like mercury that threatens our health, and the US is now leading the world in reducing the carbon pollution that jeopardizes our climate” 

Largely due to a decrease in coal use, the U.S. has already seen the largest reduction in carbon pollution in the world: Recent studies show C02 emissions are dropping at a rate of 7.7%. 

To read more about the progress of the partnership between the Sierra Club and Bloomberg Philanthropies click here.