Southern Co. leaders were warned of risks associated with climate change as early as the 1960s, and they paid millions to groups involved in climate disinformation campaigns during the 1990s and early 2000s, according to a June 8 report from the Energy and Policy Institute, a clean energy advocate and frequent utility industry critic.
The latest findings build on earlier research from a 2017 report by the Energy and Policy Institute, or EPI, detailing electric utilities' early knowledge of climate change risks. EPI said that in 1964, for example, the president of Southern Services, now Southern Company Services, served as a reviewer of a White House report recommending new research on CO2 pollution.
The new EPI report also said a U.S. Energy Department technical report in 1980 warned that global warming caused by a doubling of CO2 in the atmosphere from "fossil fuel combustion" could lead to melting polar ice caps, rising sea levels and a "massive extinction of plant and animal species." The distribution list for that technical report included a project manager at Southern Company Services, as well as contacts at the Energy Department, Electric Power Research Institute, Exxon, Carter Oil Co.
A Southern official also co-chaired a session in 1985 on the effects of increasing CO2, EPI said. That session took place at the Air Pollution Control Association annual meeting.
"As we continue to exploit the vast deposits of fossil fuels, the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration will continue to rise and will reach levels that result in disruptive climate changes. ... Effective control on the rates of CO2 growth a century from now must begin with planning and action in the very near future," scientists said during the session, according to the report.
In 1988, climate scientists published a paper in a Tennessee Valley Authority journal that described climate change as "our most serious global environmental issue." A Southern executive was on the journal's editorial board, according to the EPI report.
The EPI also said Southern paid more than $62 million between 1993 and 2004 to "special interest groups and outside firms involved in campaigns against climate science and policies." EPI cited U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
In response to the report, company spokesperson Schuyler Baehman said Southern is working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and invest in clean energy, including a goal to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. The company has already reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 50% compared to 2007 levels and is working to transition its fleet, including with proposals to reduce the number of coal units in its fleet by 88% compared to 2007 levels by 2028, Baehman said.
Southern previously announced plans to shutter coal plants and transition to more natural gas and renewable energy. The company is also investing in infrastructure and technologies to further reduce methane and other greenhouse gas emissions in its natural gas business, Baehman said.
Southern's portfolio of planned and operating generation totaled approximately 48 GW as of the end of 2021, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data, with coal accounting for 10.7 GW and natural gas at 24.3 GW.
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