The Center for an Arizona Carbon-Neutral Economy pursues a bold vision: A thriving, resilient Arizona by 2050—advancing collaboration, innovation, and shared opportunity to realize a carbon-neutral economy that strengthens communities, enhances economic opportunity, and supports enduring prosperity.
We support cross-sector efforts that draw on Arizona’s regional strengths—including world-class solar resources, a growing manufacturing base, leading research institutions, and strong community leadership—to enhance long-term prosperity and resilience.
AzCaNE convenes Arizona’s public, private, Tribal, academic, and community collaborators, providing transparent analysis that helps assess and identify opportunities that contribute to long-term prosperity and resilience.
AzCaNE takes an “all of the above” approach to achieving a low-carbon and sustainable future, recognizing that no single solution will achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
The center coordinates its efforts across multiple low-carbon strategies, including low-carbon intensity hydrogen, bioresources, transportation electrification, carbon capture, infrastructure resilience and more.
AzCaNE brings together leading experts in bioenergy, biomass management and sustainable technologies to transform organic bioresources into renewable fuels and valuable products.
By converting agricultural residue, dairy biogas and other bioresources into low-carbon energy and usable products, AzCaNE is advancing circular economy strategies that support a carbon-neutral future.
Extensive reservoirs of oil, gas and natural carbon dioxide in the Southwest make it an ideal place to explore carbon capture, utilization and storage.
The area benefits from existing CO2 pipelines and geological formations, facilitating enhanced oil recovery and deep brine storage; these support large-scale storage solutions and address technical challenges.
As the world navigates rising CO2 emissions, low-carbon-intensity hydrogen stands out as a promising solution for enhancing energy security.
AzCaNE balances near-term solutions, like upgrading industrial equipment to cut emissions, with longer-term investments like low-carbon-intensity hydrogen infrastructure.
No single technology or pathway can meet the scale or complexity of our ongoing energy, resource and carbon management challenges.
AzCaNE works across disciplines to assess and advance diverse strategies—from long-duration energy storage and electrification to sustainable land use, circular economy and beyond—to build a holistic path toward a carbon-neutral economy in Arizona.
Arizona Compass 2050 (the Compass) is an Arizona-wide initiative that brings together evidence, expertise, and diverse perspectives to explore how Arizona’s economy can move toward being carbon-neutral by 2050—and to help decision-makers understand the opportunities, tradeoffs, and choices along the way.
AzCaNE and Energy Vision have released a new assessment of Arizona’s renewable natural gas resource potential, opportunities, and obstacles. The paper examines landfill gas, animal manure, wastewater treatment systems, food waste, woody biomass, and selected low-carbon intensity hydrogen related pathways, with attention to resource availability, infrastructure needs, environmental performance, market conditions, and policy considerations. The analysis is intended to help policymakers, local governments, industry, utilities, and community stakeholders evaluate up-to-date opportunities and tradeoffs.
October 26, 2026 The University of Arizona has received $1 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to expand education for students pursuing mining degrees and boost the number of graduates in mining-related fields. The award comes through DOE’s new PROSPECT program, a $100 million initiative to strengthen the nation’s critical minerals workforce and domestic supply chain, with UA one of 16 universities each receiving $1 million. Schools that raise their graduate rates by 2028 could qualify for additional funding. Assistant Secretary Audrey Robertson announced the award during a visit to Freeport-McMoRan’s Sierrita Mine in Green Valley, calling it part of an “unprecedented attack” on the country’s shortfall in mining and critical minerals training. UA is one of just 14 accredited mining schools in the U.S.
October 5, 2026 Governor Katie Hobbs’ Office of Resiliency has recognized Arizona Energy Efficiency Week, running October 5–11, 2026, and launched a new resource to help residents cut their energy use and lower their bills. Through a proclamation, the state is spotlighting the energy efficiency programs available to Arizonans as households face rising electricity costs and extreme summer heat. The new resource brings those programs together in one place, making it easier for residents to find ways to save energy and money. The effort is part of the Office of Resiliency’s broader work to advance an affordable, reliable, and clean energy economy for Arizona.
October 1, 2026 Fervo Energy’s Cape Station in Beaver County, Utah has reached commercial operation, becoming the world’s first utility-scale enhanced geothermal (EGS) project to deliver power to the grid. The milestone comes from the first 33-megawatt “GeoBlock” of the roughly 100-megawatt first phase, built and commissioned in just 23 months. Unlike conventional geothermal, EGS engineers a fluid pathway through hot dry rock and circulates water to capture heat, producing reliable, 24/7 carbon-free electricity in places without natural reservoirs. Cape Station already has hundreds of megawatts contracted to buyers including Google and Shell. The achievement validates next-generation geothermal as a scalable source of firm clean power — a technology Arizona is actively working to develop as part of its own energy strategy.
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