In a recent conference call, officials from NextEra Energy and Dominion said the merger will lead to economies of scale—providing savings that will benefit ratepayers. The deal includes $2.25 billion in bill credits for Dominion customers spread throughout two years.
However, utility mergers don’t have a strong track record of delivering long-term benefits to consumers, according to Marissa Paslick Gillett, former chair of the Connecticut Public Utilities Commission from 2019 to 2025.
“I continue to be sort of flabbergasted by the tone deafness,” Paslick Gillet said. “I’m not sure that any of us could point to a major utility merger acquisition that’s happened in the past decade … where that merge acquisition has definitely provided the synergies that they told their commissions were going to come out.”
🔗 Read more on our website, linked in our bio
✍️ @dangearino, Amy Green and Charles Paullin
📸 Getty Images, NextEra Energy & Dominion and Charles Paullin
The UK concrete sector’s new circular economy in construction plan anchors a shift toward whole life carbon assessment as the benchmark for sustainable construction. By tracking both embodied carbon and operational performance, the industry aims to reduce the carbon footprint of construction and create low carbon building envelopes that support net zero carbon buildings. This initiative promotes circular construction strategies such as end-of-life reuse in construction, resource efficiency in construction, and the adoption of low embodied carbon materials to drive carbon footprint reduction across the supply chain. It signals the embedding of life cycle thinking in construction, where life cycle cost and building lifecycle performance become integral to design and procurement.
Revised BREEAM guidance, including updates anticipated in BREEAM V7, is intensifying scrutiny of climate resilience and environmental sustainability in construction. The integration of whole life carbon targets and eco-design for buildings aligns with the UK government’s commitment to adapt for 2°C of warming by 2050. Treating adaptation as a compliance requirement ensures that sustainable building practices are embedded within green construction codes rather than appended to them. Lifecycle assessment is now viewed as essential to ensuring net zero whole life carbon outcomes.
Urgency has also grown on the social side of sustainable building design. Rising heat mortality across vulnerable housing stock highlights the health imperative for energy-efficient buildings and equitable eco-friendly construction standards. Retrofit projects focused on insulation, passive cooling and low carbon design now contribute to both social resilience and decarbonising the built environment. At the same time, partnerships between public, private and philanthropic sectors are demonstrating how sustainable urban development can regenerate industrial zones into low carbon construction materials hubs and green infrastructure corridors that support carbon neutral construction.
Across all fronts, sustainable design has moved from concept to criterion: sustainability is now measured in tonnes of carbon, not words.
Whole Life Carbon is a platform for the entire construction industry—both in the UK and internationally. We track the latest publications, debates, and events related to whole life guidance and sustainability. If you have any enquiries or opinions to share, please do
get in touch.
Let's chat!
WLC Assistant
Ask me about sustainability
Hi! I'm your Whole Life Carbon assistant. I can help you learn about sustainability, carbon assessment, and navigate our resources. How can I help you today?
