DADDY, WHAT WERE FOSSIL FUELS?:

In early October, the world passed a milestone in the clean energy transition that, until very recently, seemed unthinkable: Exxon was unseated as the most valuable energy company in America. And not by Chevron, its closely-trailing oil and gas competitor. No, Chevron got leapfrogged too--by NextEra Energy, a company that has built the world's largest collection of wind and solar farms. [...]

True to its name, NextEra offers a glimpse into the future: A world in which the climate change economy has anointed a new set of energy titans. Over the last two decades, the company has grown to control about 16 gigawatts of wind and 3 gigawatts of solar nationwide--more capacity than exists in all of Australia, and more than twice the wind and solar capacity of NextEra's nearest competitor, according to Rystad Energy. According to the company's third-quarter call with investors, it has a backlog of contracts for at least that much more.

"No one in any industry has done more than NextEra Energy to address CO2 emissions," the company bragged in a 2019 investor presentation. Whether or not that's true, it's certain that no other company has done more to add zero-carbon electricity to the US grid, which accounts for more than one-quarter of the country's carbon footprint. And it accomplished that feat while churning out cash for investors: Shareholder returns bloomed 530% over the last decade, more than double the S&P 500.

Tweet   @brothersjudd