Call for Governor's Leadership vs. Duke Energy

Old Farm neighborhood in Durham after Tropical Storm Chantal. Image credit: New York Times

Dear Governor Stein,

As scientists, we write with grave concern about the state of our climate system and the consequences for life on Earth. We are barreling toward climate catastrophe, with climate harms already claiming lives, species, and the places we call home while simultaneously creating unprecedented financial challenges at multiple levels of society.

Last year’s devastating hurricanes wiped away entire communities and left millions of families without life-saving power and water for days. The most recent Los Angeles wildfires leveled homes and decimated livelihoods. These disasters are only getting worse and costlier, fueled by utilities and industry’s entrenched use of fossil fuels despite their harms.

It is therefore with utmost urgency that we call on you to take swift action to stop Duke Energy Corporation—the third largest corporate polluter in the country, with one of the largest planned gas buildouts of any utility [1] from delaying the necessary and climate-saving transition from fossil fuels toward a renewable energy future. We urge you to:

• Speak out publicly opposing Duke Energy’s reliance on fossil fuels and obstruction of

clean energy solutions, and help the public understand that North Carolina is on the

wrong track.

• Use your executive authority to get Duke Energy on track with rapidly transitioning

to renewable energy, including North Carolina’s Emergency Management Act.

The year 2024 was the hottest on record, and for the first time the planet surpassed 1.5 degrees Celsius warming, a redline set in the Paris Climate Agreement [2]. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [3], the United Nations [4], and the International Energy Agency [5] have all established that, to limit further global heating and climate catastrophe, the U.S. must stop fossil fuel expansion and phase out existing coal, oil, and gas production and use. On our current trajectory, the UN warns that we could experience 2.6 to 3.1 degrees Celsius of warming this century [6]. Yet, Duke Energy alarmingly plans to continue expanding gas-fired electricity generation.

Methane leakage during the production, transport, and storage of methane for gas-fired electricity generation harms the climate since methane is a potent greenhouse gas with a warming potential more than 80 times greater than that of CO2 over 20 years [7]. Methane also severely impacts public health, especially for low-income communities and people of color, by exacerbating respiratory illnesses like asthma, and other life-threatening diseases [8].

We, as scientists, have been sounding the alarm for decades that the fossil fuel status quo could become a death knell for people and the planet. We have mobilized in cities across the world for the March for Science, petitioned elected leaders to stop fossil fuel expansion, and engaged in civil disobedience to challenge polluters and the financial institutions that enable them to harm our planet. With so much on the line, science demands that we take bold action now.

In a historic move, the Town of Carrboro sued Duke Energy Corporation in the first-ever climate deception lawsuit against an electric utility for damages inflicted by the corporation's campaign to delay the transition from burning planet-heating fossil fuels [9]. Carrboro’s actions are a beacon of hope in these dark times and a reminder that, despite the Trump administration’s aggressive roll-backs of federal climate action local communities can and must step up to the plate to challenge mega-polluters who are undermining the transition to a renewable, safe, and sustainable energy future.

As alleged in Carrboro’s lawsuit, Duke Energy executives have known since 1968 that burning coal, oil, and gas creates dangerous, climate-warming emissions that put our lives and climate in peril [10]. Instead of acting on these findings, the complaint asserts that Duke Energy helped lead a decades-long campaign to deny climate science and deceive the public about the impact fossil fuels have on the planet. As a result, Duke Energy was given license to continue building infrastructure and profiting off fossil fuels, potentially resulting in tens of millions in damages to Carrboro [11].

With similar impacts occurring across the country, the costs of extreme weather events have ballooned to $143 billion a year [12]. And if unchecked, the fossil fuel-driven climate emergency could cost the global economy an astronomical $178 trillion through 2070 [13].

The science is clear: fossil fuel emissions are heating the planet at an unprecedented rate and making it increasingly unlivable. Duke Energy’s leaders had a chance to end their role in the five-alarm fire we find ourselves in today. But they did not.

Now is the moment for Duke Energy to pivot to real climate and energy resilient solutions like rooftop and community-based solar with battery storage, energy efficiency, demand response, and microgrids. These alternatives are readily available and capable of withstanding extreme weather and keeping the lights on for families [14]. Local solar-plus-storage is also the fastest, cheapest and most equitable tool we have to speed the phase-out of fossil fuel-burning power plants, lower power bills, create good jobs and improve public health [15]. You have the power to confront Duke Energy for all they have done and continue to do to block climate action and entrench the fossil fuel status quo. We implore you to lead in the transition away from fossil fuels and to the renewable, resilient, equitable, affordable, and sustainable energy future that humanity desperately needs.

Sincerely, Initial Signatories

Paul A. Baker, PhD

Professor Emeritus, Division of Earth and Climate Sciences

Duke University

Dale Evarts, MPA

Former Director, Climate and International Group

US Environmental Protection Agency

Drew Shindell, PhD

Nicholas Professor of Earth Sciences

Duke University

Michael E. Mann, PhD

Presidential Distinguished Professor

Director, Center for Science, Sustainability and the Media

University of Pennsylvania

Additional Signatories

Rose Abramoff, PhD

Assistant Professor of Forest Science

University of Maine

Ben Allen, PhD

Associate Professor of Mathematics

Emmanuel College

Cort Anastasio, PhD

Professor

University of California, Davis

Viney P. Aneja, PhD

Professor

North Carolina State University

Phoebe Barnard, PhD, MS

Professor

University of Washington

Paula Braveman, MPH, MD

Professor Emeritus

University of California, San Francisco

Claire Broome, MD

Retired Assistant Surgeon General

US Public Health Service

John Bruno, PhD

Distinguished Professor

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Robert N. Coats, PhD

Research Associate

Hydrologist

Anne C. Cohen, PhD

Retired UCLA Professor of Biology

Fellow, California Academy of Sciences

Carlos Davidson, PhD

Professor Emeritus of Env. Studies

San Francisco State University

Kathryn De Master, PhD

Associate Professor

University of California, Berkeley

Eugenie J. Dubnau, PhD

Assistant Professor

New York University

Andrea Dutton, PhD

Professor of Geoscience

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Ryan E. Emanuel, PhD

Associate Professor of Hydrology

Duke University

Gabriel Filippelli, PhD

Chancellor’s Professor

Indiana University

John Fleming, PhD

Senior Scientist

Center for Biological Diversity

Laurence Fuortes, MPH, MD

Professor Emeritus of Medicine

University of Iowa

Kenneth Gould, PhD

Professor of Sociology

City University of New York

Robert M. Gould, MD

Adjunct Assistant Professor

University of California, San Francisco

William J. Gutowski, Jr., PhD

Professor Emeritus of Meteorology

Iowa State University

Ali Hadjarian, PhD

Climate Activist and Data Scientist

Independent

John Harte, PhD

Professor

University of California, Berkeley

Harry Hochheiser, PhD

Professor, Biomedical Informatics

University of Pittsburgh

Karen Holl, PhD

Distinguished Professor

University of California, Santa Cruz

Robert Howarth, PhD

Atkinson Professor of Ecology & Environmental Biology

Cornell University

Melissa Ingala, PhD

Assistant Professor

Fairleigh Dickinson University

Brian Inouye, PhD

Biologist

Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory

David W. Inouye, PhD

Professor Emeritus

University of Maryland

Kyle Isaacson, PhD

Formulation Scientist

Phospholutions

Mark Z. Jacobson, PhD

Professor

Stanford University

David Klein, PhD

Emeritus Professor of Mathematics

California State University, Northridge

Grace Lindsay, PhD

Assistant Professor

New York University

Dave Love, PhD

Research Professor

Johns Hopkins

Edward Maibach, PhD, MPH

Distinguished University Professor

George Mason University

Kathleen McAfee, PhD

Professor Emerita

San Francisco State University

Roberta Millstein, PhD

Professor Emerit

University of California, Davis

Chad Monk, MPH

Senior VP, Programs & Public Policy

National Health Foundation

Susanne Moser, PhD

Director

Susanne Moser Research & Consulting

Stephen S. Mulkey, PhD

Lecturer

University of Florida

Dustin Mulvaney

Professor

San José State University

Ted Neal, PhD

Clinical Professor

The University of Iowa

Peter Nightingale, PhD

Professor Emeritus of Physics

University of Rhode Island

Philip Nyhus, PhD

Professor of Environmental Studies

Colby College

Suzanne O'Connell, PhD

Professor

Wesleyan University

Mark Peifer, PhD

Michael Hooker Distinguished Professor

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Walter A. Robinson, PhD

Professor of Atmospheric Sciences

North Carolina State University

Avery Russell, PhD

Assistant Professor

Missouri State University

Ted Schettler, MD, MPH

Science Director

Science and Environmental Health Network

William H. Schlesinger, PhD

Dean Emeritus, Nicholas School of the Environment

Duke University

Kevin Schultz, PhD

Associate Professor of Physics

Hartwick College

Juliet Schor, PhD

Professor

Boston College

Mack Shelley, PhD

Professor

Iowa State University

Dave Shukla, MURP

Operations

Long Beach Alliance for Clean Energy

Thomas T. Veblen, PhD

Distinguished Professor Emeritus

University of Colorado, Boulder

Dawn J. Wright, PhD

Professor of Geography and Oceanography

Oregon State University

Victoria Zelin-Cloud, MS

Cofounder

Possible Planet

This article was first published by NC WARN and the Center for Biological Diversity. Work Cited 1. Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Greenhouse 100 Polluters Index (2024 Report, Based on 2022 Data), https://peri.umass.edu/greenhouse-100-polluters-index-current; Fogler, Cara and Ver Beek, Noah, The Dirty Truth About Utility Climate Pledges, Sierra Club (October 2023), https://coal.sierraclub.org/sites/nat-coal/files/dirty_truth_report_2023.pdf.

2. Barden, Roxana, Temperatures Rising: NASA Confirms 2024 Warmest Year on Record, National Aeronautics and Space Association (January 10, 2025), https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/temperatures-rising-nasa-confirms-2024-warmest-year-on-record/.

3. IPCC, Synthesis Report of the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), https://www.ipcc.ch/ar6-syr/ (“Projected CO2 emissions from existing fossil fuel infrastructure without additional abatement would exceed the remaining carbon budget for 1.5°C (high confidence).”

4. SEI, IISD, ODI, E3G, and UNEP, The Production Gap: The discrepancy between countries’ planned fossil fuel production and global production levels consistent with limiting warming to 1.5°C or 2°C (2020), http://productiongap.org/; SEI, IISD, ODI, E3G, and UNEP, The Production Gap Report 2021 (2021), http://productiongap.org/2021report.

5. International Energy Agency, Pathway to critical and formidable goal of net-zero emissions by 2050 is narrow but brings huge benefits, according to IEA special report (May 2021), https://www.iea.org/news/pathway-to-critical-and-formidable-goal-of-net-zero-emissions-by-2050-isnarrow-but-brings-huge-benefits; Statement by Fatih Birol, the IEA’s executive director: “If governments are serious about the climate crisis, there can be no new investments in oil, gas and coal, from now – from this year,” https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/may/18/no-new-

investment-infossil-fuels-demands-top-energy-economist.

6. Weise, Zia and Mackenzie, Lucia, World on track for catastrophic 3 degrees Celsius warming, UN warns, Politico, (October 24, 2024), https://www.politico.eu/article/united-nations-emissions-gap-global-warming-dataclimate-change-report/.

7. See Understanding Global Warming Potentials, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,

https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/understanding-global-warming-potentials.

8. Donaghy, Tim and Jiang, Charlie, Fossil Fuel Racism: How Phasing Out Oil, Gas, and Coal Can Protect Communities, Greenpeace, (April 13, 2021), https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Fossil-Fuel-Racism.pdf.

9. Town of Carrboro, Legal Climate Action, https://www.carrboronc.gov/3114/Legal-Climate-Action; Noor, Dharna, Small North Carolina town sues energy ‘Goliath’ in historic climate action, The Guardian (December 4, 2024), https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/dec/04/carrboro-north-carolina-duke-energy-lawsuit.

10. Town of Carrboro v. Duke Energy Corporation (filed December 4, 2024), https://www.carrboronc.gov/DocumentCenter/View/15749/Complaint-Litigation-

11. Id.

12. Newman, Rebecca and Noy, Ilan, The global costs of extreme weather that are attributable to climate change, Nat Commun 14, 6103 (September 29, 2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-41888-1.

13. Deloitte, The Turning Point: A Global Summary, (June 20, 2022),

https://www.deloitte.com/global/en/issues/climate/global-turning-point.html.

14. Gilpin, Lyndsey, After the Hurricane, Solar Kept Florida Homes and a City’s Traffic Lights Running, Inside Climate News (September 15, 2017), https://insideclimatenews.org/news/15092017/after-hurricane-irmasolar-florida-homes-power-gird-out-city-traffic-lights-running/; Espada, Mariah, Solar Power is Helping Some Puerto Rico Homes Avoid Hurricane Fiona Blackouts, TIME (September 20, 2022), https://time.com/6215138/solar-power-puerto-rico-hurricane-fiona/; Peters, Adele, When Hurricane Helene hit, this disaster-proof Florida neighborhood kept the lights on, Fast Company (September 30, 2024), https://www.fastcompany.com/91199201/this-disaster-proof-floridaneighborhood-kept-the-lights-on; Ramirez, Rachel, As parts of Florida went dark from Helene and Milton, the lights stayed on in this net-zero, storm-proof community, CNN (October 12, 2024), https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/12/climate/hurricane-milton-helene-florida-homes/index.html.

15. Crystal, Howard, et al., Rooftop-Solar Justice: Why Net Metering is Good For People and the Planet and Why Monopoly Utilities Want to Kill It, Center for Biological Diversity, (March 2023),

https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/energy-justice/pdfs/Rooftop-Solar-Justice-Report-March-2023.pdf; Department of Energy, Solar Energy Technologies Office, Solar Integration: Distributed Energy Resources and Microgrids, https://www.energy.gov/eere/solar/solar-integration-distributed-energyresources-and-microgrids; Stout, Sherry, et al., Distributed Energy Planning for Climate Resilience, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (2018), https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy18osti/71310.pdf; Hernandez, Rebecca R., et al., Techno–Ecological Synergies of Solar Energy for Global Sustainability, 2 Nat. Sustainability 560, 560–568 (2019), https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-019-0309-z; Al Weinrub & Denise Fairchild, Energy Democracy: Advancing Equity in Clean Energy Solutions, Island Press (2017); Massetti, Emanuele, et al., Environmental Quality and the U.S. Power Sector: Air Quality, Water Quality, Land Use and Environmental Justice, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (January 4, 2017), https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1339359; Bailey Damiani, Small-Scale Solar Installations Create 10-Times More Jobs per Megawatt than Utility-Scale Solar, Freeing Energy (September 8, 2021).