Full Title: Southern Company Knew: How a “Clean Coal” Utility Was Warned About Climate Change Risks Years Before it Funded Climate Disinformation, 1964-2022
Author(s): David Anderson
Publisher(s): Energy and Policy Institute
Publication Date: June 9, 2022
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
In its latest assessment, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) called out the “vested interests” that stand in the way of climate action.
While the IPCC doesn’t name names, a growing body of academic research and investigative reporting has documented how major fossil fuel producers, utilities, and automakers knew more than fifty years ago that carbon dioxide emissions could cause harmful climate change in the future. Despite these early warnings, many of these powerful companies later backed disinformation campaigns against climate science and policies.
This report documents for the first time the nearly 60-year history of one of those vested interests, Southern Company, on climate change from the mid-1960s through present day.
One of the nation’s largest electric and gas utilities, Southern Company’s origins date back nearly a century. Part one of this report documents how as far back as 1964, Southern Company was privy to early warnings about the climate risks of burning fossil fuels. Part two details how Southern Company has played a leading role in the spread of climate disinformation since the late 1980s.