The residents of a small North Carolina town are suing Duke Energy, one of the largest utilities companies in the world, for its role in contributing to climate change. In the process, they are continuing a nationwide trend of communities suing oil companies, and now utilities, for contributing to global heating.
The small town of Carrboro (population: roughly 21,000) is suing Duke Energy, which according to an analysis from the University of Massachusetts Amherst is the third largest source of carbon dioxide in the United States. Carbon dioxide is one of the chief anthropogenic greenhouse gases that contributes to climate change; the others are methane, water vapor, nitrous oxide and fluorinated gases. These gases are mostly emitted through humanity’s use of fossil fuels, as well as other agricultural and industrial activities.
In a complaint filed Wednesday in North Carolina state court, the community led by Mayor Barbara Foushee is asking a jury to award the town money for current and future losses because of climate change.
“North Carolina has just suffered its hottest year on record, and temperatures for the region may increase as much as 6° to 10° F by the end of the century,” the complaint states. “In the next decade alone, temperatures in Carrboro are likely to be over 90° F for more than 10 weeks a year.” The complaint added that climate change causes more frequent and extreme rain and storms, citing Hurricane Helene as having “devastated communities in Western North Carolina.”
Carrboro is following in the example of other communities that are trying to hold companies legally accountable for their greenhouse gas emissions. In May, Vermont became the first state to require oil companies to compensate the public for damages caused by climate change. There are also lawsuits from Bucks County, Penn. to Chicago regarding greenhouse gas emissions, as well as related litigation pertaining to plastic pollution from California to Ford County, Kansas.
