This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state elected board that makes critical decisions on everything from raising electricity bills to developing renewable energy.
Georgia may not have a state-level office or agency that addresses climate and energy policy, but there are many positions that wield power over those decisions — from the Public Service Commission, which regulates the main utility and determines energy sources, to the attorney general and state treasurer, who can join lawsuits for or against climate action.
Here are some of the key players in Georgia’s climate-related policies — and some that have had a significant recent impact — and what they’re responsible for.
Public Service Commission
Chosen; next on the 2025 ballot
Established in 1879 to regulate the railway industry, the Georgia Public Service Commission, or PSC, now regulates Georgia Power — which has 2.7 million customers across the state — as well as natural gas pipelines and telecommunications. Georgia Power files an update every three years Integrated resource plan — the 20-year outlook detailing which energy sources it intends to use (gas, coal, nuclear power, solar power). The plan and the rate case, which is the process of setting electricity rates, are then subject to feedback from consumer and environmental groups, businesses and the public, before being finalized by the PSC.
The commission has five elected members and a staff from 85 to 90, including an advocacy staff that typically opposes the utility’s requests to raise rates and represents the state’s residential and small commercial and industrial consumers during proceedings. In recent years, Georgia Power and the Public Service Commission have been criticized by both Republicans and Democrats for frequent rate hikes. (See a timeline of the SDK’s most important recent decisions.)
Each member of the commission serves a six-year term, though elections have been put on hold since 2022 because of a lawsuit filed under the Voting Rights Act that claims the commission’s statewide elections dilute the power of Black voters. In 2024, the US Supreme Court refused to hear the case, and the state passed a law outlining a new schedule for PSC elections beginning in 2025, meaning all commissioners will serve beyond their elected term. Even though Black people make up roughly a third of Georgia’s population, the PSC has had only two Black members in its 145-year history, both appointed by governors to fill a vacancy. All five current members are Republicans.
Governor
Chosen; next on the 2026 ballot
For years, environmental advocates have demanded that Georgia develop a climate action plan, as dozens of states have done. In 2023, Gov. Brian Kemp’s administration began putting one together, fueled by federal dollars made available under the Inflation Reduction Act. The state’s priority plan would be in March, with the full plan next year.
Governors have authority to set a state’s regulations and policies. For example, governors in other states have also set emissions targets, such as in neighboring North Carolina, where Governor Roy Cooper issued a 2018. executive order aimed at reducing emissions, which were later followed by legislative action with long-term goals.
A conservative Republican, Kemp doesn’t talk much about climate change. But he has aggressively courted the electric vehicle industry, attracting battery plants and companies such as electric car maker Rivian. He said his intention is that Georgia the “electric mobility capital of America.”
Governors appoint several of the positions on this list; they also occasionally have the opportunity to influence the composition of the SDK and fill vacancies before an election can be held.
Attorney General
Chosen; next on the 2026 ballot
An attorney general is the main legal counsel for state government agencies and legislatures. In some states, attorneys general have addressed the climate crisis by joining the legal battle against fossil fuel companies for the harm caused by greenhouse gas emissions: This year, for example, Michigan established to become the ninth state whose attorney general is suing fossil fuel companies for allegedly covering up damage caused by their emissions.
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr has often opposed federal regulations, including those related to climate and the environment. Carr joined a lawsuit in 2024, along with several dozen attorneys general of Republican-led states, that sought to block a Biden administration EPA rule that would have reduced emissions from coal and natural gas power plants . He also criticized and challenged other climate-friendly federal moves, such as the Biden administration’s 2021 moratorium on oil and gas leasing and drilling permits on federal land.
Agriculture commissioner
Chosen; next on the 2026 ballot
The agricultural commissioner oversees the Department of Agriculture. In Georgia, the department not only oversees the agricultural industry, it is also responsible for the inspection and testing of gas pumps – and now, charging stations for electric vehicles – to ensure that consumers get a fair shake. A 2023 law requires the department to have a plan for EV charger inspections in place by 2025, which the commissioner said would make it the first state in the nation to implement such a program.
Georgia Commissioner Tyler Harper is one of a dozen Republican agriculture commissioners across the country, major banks (Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and others) who have joined an alliance “committed to financing ambitious climate action” are challenging the global economy to zero greenhouse emissions by mid-century. arguing that it creates an unnecessary burden on farmers. Agricultural commissioners take many approaches to steward the state’s farmers and farm workers. For example, commissioners in states including Colorado and Michigan have launched programs to increase farmers’ resilience in the face of warm temperatures.
Committee chairmen
Chosen; all members of the Georgia House and Senate are on the ballot every two years, next in the fall of 2024
While most of the other offices with power over Georgia’s climate positioning will not be on the ballot this year, Georgia House and Senate members will be.
In the state legislature, two committees — the Senate Committee on Regulated Industries and Utilities and the House Committee on Energy, Utilities and Telecommunications — are responsible for issues within the Public Service Commission’s purview, such as legislation involving gas or electric utilities. The chairs are Republican Bill Cowsert and Don Parsons, respectively; they are both up for re-election this fall. In the 2024 legislative session, Parsons sponsored legislation to get more specific information listed on Georgia Power accounts, which failed. Both House and Senate Committees unanimously passed a bill it would have restored a consumer advocate program for the PSC.
Environmental Protection Division
Director is nominated by the governor and approved by the Natural Resources Board
A division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, the EPD is tasked with drafting the state’s climate plan. It works with researchers at Georgia Tech. The university leads Withdrawal Georgiaa project to track emissions and create options to reduce them, which could halve the state’s carbon emissions by 2030. The EPD also has other responsibilities, including overseeing Georgia Power’s coal ash cleanup efforts and monitoring emissions from factories and power plants. Jeff Cowenthe current director, was appointed in 2023 by Governor Kemp. He is a longtime employee of the Department of Natural Resources.
Treasurer
Appointed by the State Conservation Board (comprised of the Governor, Insurance Commissioner, Accounting Officer, Banking and Finance Commissioner, Transport Commissioner and Treasurer)
The stewards of pension funds for public sector workers such as teachers, firefighters and civil servants, state treasurers have the ability to steer investments away from dirty energy, and the leverage to push larger asset management companies to extract fossil fuels.
Georgia’s Republican treasurer, Steve McCoy, did joined by about two dozen government financial officers across the country in what a 2022 New York Times investigation described as efforts to “block climate action.” In 2022, McCoy joined a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission objected to a proposed policy requiring companies to disclose climate risks to their investors, saying, among other things, that the proposed rule “condescends to irrational climate exceptionalism, elevating climate issues to a place of prominence in disclosures they do not deserve. “
Mayors and local sustainability officers
Elected and appointed, respectively
Some of Georgia’s cities have taken up the mantle of addressing climate change in recent years — statewide, mayors and their administrations have led climate and energy planning. Atlanta has a goal of achieving 100 percent clean energy by 2035. The city has a cabinet level chief sustainability officer and a clean energy advisory board, all appointed by the mayor. The Atlanta Regional Commission — whose board includes elected representatives from around the 29-county metro area, and is currently chaired by the mayor of Atlanta — is in the midst of develop its own regional climate plan. Savannah has also set renewable energy targets for 2050, and has an office of sustainability and a clean energy program manager; Athens-Clarke County has a sustainability office and director.
Utility consumer advocate
This is not yet a position that exists. But when the idea of establishing a consumer advocate within the Georgia Public Service Commission came up in the most recent legislative session, it received bipartisan support, even if it couldn’t cross the finish line. It’s not a new concept: A consumer utility advocate existed until 2008, when it fell victim to recession-era belt-tightening. Advocates say it will give the public a stronger voice to challenge things like frequent hikes in electricity rates. However, PSC commissioners argue that consumer perspectives are adequately represented by the commission’s advocacy staff, who are not appointed or elected.
