Utilities Might’ve Known About Climate Change As Early As 1968
A new report from the Energy and Policy Institute shows scientists told utility companies as early as the late ’60s that fossil fuels were warming the planet. But the report claims companies then tried to hide that information.
In 1968, a top science adviser to former President Lyndon B. Johnson presented research to industry groups showing how carbon dioxide emissions could have “major consequences on the climate.”
After that presentation, about 50 utilities released a comprehensive outline for 30 years of climate research. One goal was to investigate how producing greenhouse gases would affect the environment.
During the next 30 years, many researchers concluded that climate change “may significantly affect the electric utility industry.”
But the report says utilities took a “two-faced approach.” The companies eventually said global warming was real but kept funding lobbies fighting greenhouse-gas regulations and debating the extent of the warming problem.
