Southern Company Defends Coal, Gas Projects as it Pushes for 'Net Zero'

May 5, 2022--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Southern Company (NYSE:SO) (Atlanta, Georgia) continues to pursue renewable-energy projects and decarbonization goals, but executives acknowledge some of its major fossil-fuel facilities will have to stay open longer than expected amid the recent crunch in the energy markets. But that isn't slowing Southern's adoption of hydropower, or its vow to eliminate carbon emissions in the coming decades, executives say. Executives acknowledged the company was not switching away from coal as quickly as some investors and customers had hoped, but insist the company's natural gas business "fits in well with the decarbonization," and that "the idea somehow that gas should go away in America is really foolish." Industrial Info is tracking more than $42.5 billion worth of active projects from Southern Company.