An OpenMinds NextGen student team designed a global dashboard to track progress on the Dual Challenge: expanding energy access while reducing CO2 and methane emissions. The five-person team, from UT Austin, Harvard, Tec de Monterrey, MIT and the University of Washington, built a repeatable framework that future cohorts can update each year from free, public data sources.
Key points
- Since 1990, U.S. emissions fell 4% compared with 29% in the EU, while emissions grew 379% in China and 430% in India.
- Globally, only 20% of final energy consumption is electrified, and only 42% of that electricity comes from low carbon resources.
- Federal policy is shifting support toward nuclear, transmission and geothermal. Methane abatement stands out as negative cost and "no regret."
- A main finding: regulatory friction blocks deployment more than capital availability. Separately, 3% annual U.S. electricity demand growth from AI, data centers and electrification creates opportunities in transmission, reliability and firm baseload.
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