Minnesota

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To get to zero by 2050, Minnesota must cut emissions by 3.7% a year

Emissions in Minnesota

Million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2)  equivalent (MTCO2e ) emissions

Note: Grey area indicates missing data due to processing delays.
Source: WRI, Mar 2021

This is how we're going to do it

Minnesota's climate pollution, by source
🏭 Other: 41%🔌 Power: 21%🚗 Transport: 25%🏠 Buildings: 14%

Source: WRI, Mar 2021

    Decarbonize Our Buildings

    🏭 Other: 41%🔌 Power: 21%🚗 Transport: 25%🏠 Buildings: 14%

    14% of Minnesota's climate pollution comes from buildings.

    We burn fossil fuels to heat our air, water, and food.

    To cut this pollution...

    Let's electrify our heat!

    We'll replace...

    • Boilers and furnaces with heat pumps 
    • Gas stoves with electric induction stoves 

    ...in all of Minnesota's 2.9 million buildings.

    In fact, 24.8% of appliances in buildings in Minnesota are already fossil fuel free!

    That means we only need to electrify the remaining 2.2 million dirty buildings in Minnesota. That's around 81,000 per year.

    Percent of Appliances Electrified electrifiedA chart showing the share of Appliances Electrified that have already been electrified and still based in fossil fuel.24.8% have been electrified, and the remaining 75.2% are fossil fuel based.Appliances Electrified: 24.8%Needed This Year: 2.8%Not Yet: 72.4%Source: Microsoft, Mar 2021; NREL, Dec 2021

    Electrifying all buildings cuts 14% of the pollution.

    🏭 Other: 41%🔌 Power: 21%🚗 Transport: 25%🏠 Buildings: 14%

    Decarbonize Our Transport

    🏭 Other: 41%🔌 Power: 21%🚗 Transport: 25%🏠 Buildings: 14%

    25% of Minnesota's pollution comes from cars, trucks, trains, and planes.

    But mostly from cars.

    To cut this pollution,

    your next car must be electric.

    Or consider going car-free with public transit, bikes/e-bikes, car share, or other alternatives!

    There are 1.8 million vehicles in Minnesota and 10,000 are already electric (0.6% of the total).

    We need to electrify (or replace) the remaining 1.8 million gas-powered vehicles. That's around 68,000 a year.

    Percent of Vehicles Electrified electrifiedA chart showing the share of Vehicles Electrified that have already been electrified and still based in fossil fuel.0.6% have been electrified, and the remaining 99.4% are fossil fuel based.Vehicles Electrified: 0.6%Needed This Year: 3.7%Not Yet: 95.7%Source: DOT, Feb 2021

    Electrifying all transportation cuts 25% of the pollution.

    🏭 Other: 41%🔌 Power: 21%🚗 Transport: 25%🏠 Buildings: 14%

    Decarbonize Our Power

    🏭 Other: 41%🔌 Power: 21%🚗 Transport: 25%🏠 Buildings: 14%

    21% of Minnesota's pollution comes from burning coal, gas, and oil to make power.

    Dirty power plant

    To cut this pollution...

    Put solar panels on your roof!

    Then, we'll replace all fossil fuel power plants with solar and wind farms.

    We need to replace dirty power plants with clean ones (mostly wind and solar)

    ...and find good jobs for those workers.

    Current Fossil Fuel Power Plants in Minnesota

    8 coal plants

    Name: Sherburne County County: Sherburne Megawatt Capacity: 2,469 Utility: Northern States Power Co - Minnesota

    Sherburne County
    Sherburne County
    2,469 MW

    Name: Boswell Energy Center County: Itasca Megawatt Capacity: 1,073 Utility: ALLETE, Inc.

    Boswell Energy Center
    Itasca County
    1,073 MW

    Name: Allen S King County: Washington Megawatt Capacity: 598 Utility: Northern States Power Co - Minnesota

    Allen S King
    Washington County
    598 MW

    Name: Hoot Lake County: Otter Tail Megawatt Capacity: 138 Utility: Otter Tail Power Co

    Hoot Lake
    Otter Tail County
    138 MW

    Name: Northshore Mining Silver Bay Power County: Lake Megawatt Capacity: 132 Utility: Cleveland Cliffs Inc

    Northshore Mining Silver Bay Power
    Lake County
    132 MW

    Name: Hibbing County: St Louis Megawatt Capacity: 36 Utility: Hibbing Public Utilities Comm

    Hibbing
    St Louis County
    36 MW

    Name: Archer Daniels Midland Mankato County: Blue Earth Megawatt Capacity: 11 Utility: Archer Daniels Midland Co

    Archer Daniels Midland Mankato
    Blue Earth County
    11 MW

    Name: Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar County: Renville Megawatt Capacity: 8 Utility: Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar

    Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar
    Renville County
    8 MW

    32 gas plants

    Name: Black Dog County: Dakota Megawatt Capacity: 1,681 Utility: Northern States Power Co - Minnesota

    Black Dog
    Dakota County
    1,681 MW

    Name: High Bridge County: Ramsey Megawatt Capacity: 921 Utility: Northern States Power Co - Minnesota

    High Bridge
    Ramsey County
    921 MW

    Name: Riverside (1927) County: Hennepin Megawatt Capacity: 825 Utility: Northern States Power Co - Minnesota

    Riverside (1927)
    Hennepin County
    825 MW

    Name: Mankato Energy Center County: Blue Earth Megawatt Capacity: 719 Utility: Southern Power Co

    Mankato Energy Center
    Blue Earth County
    719 MW

    ...and 28 more

    51 oil plants

    Name: New Ulm County: Brown Megawatt Capacity: 79 Utility: New Ulm Public Utilities Comm

    New Ulm
    Brown County
    79 MW

    Name: St. Bonifacius Station County: Carver Megawatt Capacity: 61 Utility: Great River Energy

    St. Bonifacius Station
    Carver County
    61 MW

    Name: Glencoe County: McLeod Megawatt Capacity: 41 Utility: Glencoe Light & Power Comm

    Glencoe
    McLeod County
    41 MW

    Name: Maple Lake Station County: Wright Megawatt Capacity: 25 Utility: Great River Energy

    Maple Lake Station
    Wright County
    25 MW

    ...and 47 more

    Find the dirty plants near you

    Source: EPA, Jan 2021

    But wait!

    It's not enough to replace our power plants with wind and solar farms.

    To power our electric cars and buildings, we need two times the electricity we have today.

    In all, we'll need to build 7,000 megawatt (MW)  of wind power and 6,000 MW of solar power.

    Since the average wind turbine provides 2.75 MW of peak capacity, Minnesota would need to install about 2,000 turbines.

    Since Minnesota already has 1,000 MW of wind and 240 MW of solar, that's 5,000 MW of wind power we need to build and 6,000 MW of solar power. That's around 198 MW of wind power and 208 MW of solar power a year.

    Percent of MWs of Wind and Solar Built electrifiedA chart showing the share of MWs of Wind and Solar Built that have already been electrified and still based in fossil fuel.15% have been electrified, and the remaining 85% are fossil fuel based.MWs of Wind and Solar Built: 15.0%Needed This Year: 3.1%Not Yet: 81.9%

    Source: EIA, Apr 2022

    Decarbonizing all dirty power cuts 21% of the pollution.

    And gives us zero-emissions power we need to eliminate pollution from buildings and cars!

    🏭 Other: 41%🔌 Power: 21%🚗 Transport: 25%🏠 Buildings: 14%

    Other Emissions

    🏭 Other: 41%🔌 Power: 21%🚗 Transport: 25%🏠 Buildings: 14%

    The last 41% of Minnesota's climate pollution comes from other sources...

    This includes farming, landfills, industry, and leaks from gas pipelines.

    There's no one solution to solve these problems, but there are lots of great ideas:

    • No-till farming to keep CO2 in the soil
    • Capturing methane leaks from landfills
    • Capturing CO2 to make emissions-free concrete
    • Burning green hydrogen to make emissions-free steel
    • Plugging methane leaks from gas pipelines

    That doesn't mean there's no solution, it just means that clean electrification  doesn't help with these problems, and you could fill a whole book with covering all of them. We need to encourage our politicians to invest in researching new solutions and implementing existing solutions to these problems!

Ready to do your part?

Learn how to electrify your own machines and pass local policy to electrify the rest

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