BOSTON (Reuters) – New York City’s top pension official has called on three major U.S. utilities to name independent board chairs, pressuring them to “decarbonize” their operations by 2050 and underscoring how power companies have split on whether to set such goals. New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer, who oversees about $208 billion in retirement assets, recently filed shareholder resolutions at Southern Co, (SO.N) Duke Energy Corp (DUK.N) and Dominion Energy Inc.(D.N) The resolutions call for shareholder votes on whether to name independent individuals to chair boards currently led by the chief executive of each company. The change would be “useful to oversee the strategic transformation” of the companies to operate in a low-carbon economy, according to the resolutions, seen by Reuters. U.S. power utilities have largely embraced the idea of cutting emissions to slow climate change, but have split on what exact targets to spell out. A number of utilities, including Xcel Energy Inc (XEL.O) and NRG Energy Inc (NRG.N), plan to end emissions by 2050 by using more solar or wind power, retiring coal-burning plants, or reaching “net-zero emissions” with offsets like restoring forests to remove carbon from the atmosphere. Some experts have questioned, however, if new technologies…