SRP adopted new sustainability goals on Monday that included reducing carbon dioxide emissions and water use.

The utility aims to lower the amount of carbon dioxide it emits per megawatt-hour by 62 percent from 2005 levels by the year 2035. The goal by the year 2050 is to reduce the rate of emission by 90 percent from 2005 levels.

Jeff Schlegel, with the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project, said the goal represents a significant reductions in carbon emission.

“SRP didn’t just set a goal of what they were going to do anyway,” he said. “They’re going to change their business practices here significantly in order to achieve this goal, and in that way, it’s an aspirational goal.”

Schlegel said about a quarter of the CO2 reduction comes from closing the Navajo Generating Station. The coal plant is slated to shut in December.  

“The coal plants are going to close, a lot of them for economic reasons,” said Adam Stafford, an attorney at the environmental group Western Resource Advocates. “What do you replace it with? [SRP] is showing they’re concerned with what the carbon output is.”

Stafford said if SRP simply replaced coal generation with natural gas, it would not see the level of CO2 reduction it is aiming for in the sustainability goals.

Other goals include reducing water use at SRP facilities by 45% and supporting a half-million electric vehicles in the company’s service territory.