Transition Finance Weekly - 12/5/2025
Data Center Additions Are “Unjust”; CCA Hits $1.5 Billion in Local Investments; Zillow Removes Climate Risk Scores
Exploring the policy, politics, and economics of the clean energy transition
Each week here in Transition Finance Weekly, researchers and analysts from Pleiades Strategy summarize the top stories and trends related to the policy, politics, and economics of the clean energy transition in the states.
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1. PJM Independent Market Monitor Declares Data Center Additions “Unjust”
The rapid expansion of data centers in PJM’s territory is hitting the grid and consumers’ wallets hard.
PJM’s Independent Market Monitor asked FERC to restrict the regional operator’s authority to add new large loads to the market absent proof that the large loads can be served reliably without fear of blackouts.
The move follows a failed PJM stakeholder vote on the topic. PJM had launched a “Critical Issue Fast Path” process to speed decision-making and gather input on interconnecting large loads. As the process concluded, its Members Committee considered a dozen proposals on data center interconnection, but none received the two-thirds support needed to pass the advisory vote.
Wholesale electricity prices in PJM are already up sharply in 2025. The Independent Market Monitor recently reported a 45% year-to-date increase compared with 2024, underscoring how quickly affordability concerns are mounting. Without clear rules, the addition of large data centers could continue to drive costs higher, leaving policymakers scrambling as energy reliability and affordability collide.
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, at a September summit“Let’s face it: Change is needed to keep energy costs low, bring new energy generation onto the grid more quickly, and meet the needs of the 67 million Americans who rely on this grid for everything from running a business to keeping the lights on at home.”
2. California is Off Coal
This week, the Intermountain Power Plant quietly stopped burning coal.
Last week, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) shut down the Utah-based Intermountain Power Project’s coal generating units, marking a milestone in the energy transition as the world’s fourth largest economy is now powered entirely without coal.
This is yet another proof point that the war for coal is failing: as much as the administration tries, there’s nothing they can do to change the economics of the industry. As we’ve covered throughout the fall, the administration’s coal auctions keep failing, with bids as low as 100 times less than similar auctions years ago.
The switch happened seamlessly, in large part thanks to California’s 17,000 MW of battery storage, which is keeping the state’s grid more reliable than ever.
Former LA Times climate reporter Sammy Roth: “The lights didn’t flicker in Southern California, whatever President Trump might say about the importance of coal to reliable energy supplies. There were no Thanksgiving blackouts. Nobody noticed the difference.”
3. Washington’s Climate Commitment Act Hits $1.5 Billion in Local Investments
Washington State is putting its Climate Commitment Act (CCA) dollars to work.
A new report details $1.5 billion invested across 3,618 projects during the 2023–25 biennium. The investments target local communities while advancing the state’s goal of reducing climate pollution from its largest sources by 95% by 2050.
The CCA works by putting a price on greenhouse gas emissions. Companies must buy allowances for every metric ton of pollution they emit, with the number of allowances gradually shrinking through 2050. During this two year period, the $330 million+ in CCA investments are expected to directly reduce nearly 9 million metric tons of CO₂, the equivalent of taking 40% of Washington’s gas and diesel vehicles off the road for a whole year.
Much of the funding, $800 million, went to serve vulnerable populations.Many projects lay the groundwork for longer-term emissions reductions, from renewable energy infrastructure to workforce development for the clean economy. Transportation projects alone represent a significant share of spending. All CCA investments are publicly tracked on the state’s interactive dashboard, offering unprecedented transparency into how climate dollars flow to communities.
With 8.6 million metric tons of CO₂ avoided so far, Washington’s CCA is proving that climate action can be measurable, accountable, and directly beneficial to people on the ground.
4. Zillow Removes Climate Risk Scores, Hurting Homebuyer Transparency
This move is more than just inconvenient.
Zillow has quietly eliminated its climate risk scores, a key tool for homebuyers seeking to understand the hazards tied to natural disasters and other climate threats. Instead of displaying the data directly, the platform now links to FirstStreet’s climate risk information, an opaque step that could leave buyers in the dark.
Research shows that access to climate risk information meaningfully influences homebuyer behavior: when buyers see clear data about potential risks, they are less likely to purchase homes in high-risk areas. By removing this information from its platform, Zillow is effectively shielding buyers from the very details that could inform smarter, safer decisions.
The reason for the change is unsurprising. Realtors and homeowners, concerned that visible climate risk scores depress home values and slow sales, pushed for the data to be removed. In California, the Regional Multiple Listing Service has similarly urged other major platforms to strip flood-risk details from listings.
5. Do You Believe in Magic? Georgia Power’s 6 GW of Projected Load Growth Vanishes
Georgia Power’s latest filing with the Georgia Public Service Commission reveals what can only be described as a disappearing act.
The utility’s pipeline of large load economic development projects shrank by a net 6 GW in a single quarter, dropping to 50.9 GW. While 6.8 GW of new projects entered the pipeline and existing projects increased their projected load by 1.6 GW, a staggering 14.3 GW of projects exited. Near-term large load projects slated for winter 2028–29 also fell by 1.4 GW, leaving a total of 24.4 GW.
Load growth projections may be significantly overstated, creating a real risk of overbuilding and stranded assets. Meanwhile, Georgia Power continues to promise more natural gas plants and extended life for coal facilities — decisions that lock in fossil fuels and financial risk while underestimating the volatility of actual demand.
“The majority of the new generation Georgia Power seeks to certify … is not backed by executed contracts under the new large load framework,” stated the testimony, given by PSC staff members and consulting analysts. “Only about 1,900 MW is supported by such contracts. The rest is speculative and exposes customers to the risk of stranded costs if the anticipated load does not materialize.”
6. The Shadows Trying To Stop Daylight
In Europe, a ‘secretive cabal’ of US fossil companies are working to block key climate disclosure and transition planning rules.
Leaked documents from Europe uncovered an alliance of 11 companies — including mega-polluters like Chevron, ExxonMobil, and Koch Industries — that worked together to “divide and conquer” the European Parliament and force the center-right EPP to work with far-right parties to scale back CSDDD, Europe’s flagship climate law.
The alliance was organized in part by Teneo, a network of right-wing figures chaired by Leonard Leo and whose membership at one point included Vice President J.D. Vance and Senator Josh Hawley. Teneo and the alliance of polluters specifically sought to insert CSDDD into US-EU trade negotiations, which the administration obliged.
This is yet another signal from polluters that transparency and sunlight are truly existential threats to their bottomline. As the energy transition continues to unfold, fossil companies will continue to try to push back in increasingly desperate ways. It’s still clear: the world is still looking to move on from fossil fuels.
SPOTLIGHT: Clean Energy Drives 90% of Energy Job Growth
The energy sector added over 100,000 jobs in 2024, bringing total employment to 8.5 million, and nearly 87,000 of those new positions were in clean energy. That means clean energy accounted for roughly 87% of all energy job growth last year. With 3.75 million jobs now in clean energy, the sector represents nearly 44% of the U.S. energy workforce, up from 42% in 2023.
The growth isn’t just in numbers; it’s in quality too. Union representation across the energy sector ticked up from 11.4% in 2023 to 11.7% in 2024, continuing a steady rise from 11% in 2020. These are jobs that offer stability and pathways for workers in a rapidly changing economy.
Meanwhile, fossil fuel employment continues its long-term decline. Onshore natural gas extraction jobs fell 6.4%, shedding roughly 15,600 positions, even as natural gas power generation employment grew. Coal jobs also declined: extraction employment dropped 4%, and coal electric power generation jobs fell 4.3%, losing about 2,700 positions in each category.
