Thread by @EnergyandPolicy

Our new report documents Southern Company's nearly 60-year history on climate change, from early warnings in the 1960's through Southern's later funding of disinformation campaigns against climate science + action #UtilitiesKnew
energyandpolicy.org/reports/southe…

The president of Southern Services served as a technical reviewer for a 1964 White House report that highlighted concerns about the “possible effects” of “increased carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere by the year 2000” documentcloud.org/documents/3718…

Several Southern Company subsidiaries contributed to a 1971 Electric Research Council report that laid out a budget for the utility industry’s future research into the climatological effects of CO2 emissions from power plants s3.documentcloud.org/documents/3672…

In 1980, a subcontractor that worked with Southern Company on DOE-funded “clean coal” research warned of the “projected effects” of global warming in a report distributed to officials at Southern, Exxon, DOE, and the Electric Power Research Institute documentcloud.org/documents/2111…

The 1980 subcontractor’s report sent to Southern Company also said the evidence of increasing CO2 levels in the atmosphere was already “well-established” - and fossil fuel combustion was the “major man-made source” of CO2 emissions documentcloud.org/documents/2111…

In 1985, officials from Southern Company and the Electric Power Research Institute co-chaired an air pollution conference session where experts warned “effective control” of carbon emissions “must begin with planning and action in the near future” energyandpolicy.org/reports/southe…

In 1988, Southern Company’s VP of research and environmental affairs served on the editorial board of a TVA journal that published a paper by climate scientists, which described climate change as “our most serious environmental issue” energyandpolicy.org/reports/southe…

After 1988, Southern Company responded to growing calls for action to prevent catastrophic climate change by establishing itself as a driving force behind disinformation campaigns against climate science and action energyandpolicy.org/reports/southe…

Southern Company paid $62+ million to special interest groups and firms involved in campaigns against climate science and policies between 1993 and 2004, a review of annual reports Southern filed with SEC found energyandpolicy.org/reports/southe…

Southern Company and the Edison Electric Institute spearheaded a 1991 PR campaign that featured newspaper ads that asked, “Who told you the earth was warming… Chicken Little?” energyandpolicy.org/reports/southe…

Southern Company paid $20 million to the Edison Electric Institute from 1993-2004. Internal documents from 1996 connect EEI’s president Tom Kuhn to a set of “GRASSROOTS INSTRUCTIONS” that claimed "controversy continues" over man-made global warming
documentcloud.org/documents/2167…

In 1994 and 1995, Southern Company sponsored live satellite communications programs that targeted teachers and public officials in multiple states with coal industry talking points about electricity, climate change, and the environment energyandpolicy.org/reports/southe…

Today, Southern Company continues to generate most of its power from methane gas and coal. Southern Company utilities reported over $150 million in political influence spending in annual reports filed with FERC between 2015 and 2019 energyandpolicy.org/reports/southe…