In March of 2017, an Executive Order was signed that, among other things, starts the process of rolling back the Clean Power Plan. In light of that, we review what the Clean Power Plan is, what are its goals, why were the emissions reductions established, and finally how the Power Sector Emissions Index will help track the carbon intensity of electricity before and after this Executive Order.

The Power Sector Carbon Index represents the carbon intensity of the U.S. electricity sector. We observe that the Power Sector Carbon Index decreased by 24% between 2005 and 2016. Indeed, in 2005 the index value was 1,324 lb CO₂ per MWh, and by 2016 it had dropped to 1,005 lb CO₂ per MWh.