Yesterday, I shared a news release by NC WARN and officials of Carrboro, N.C. to ask North Carolina Governor Josh Stein to rein in Duke Energy’s expansion plans and contribution to the Climate Crisis. This is a Resolution that reveals, in detail, the damage being done by Duke Energy and the Climate Crisis. Stay tuned for further reporting on this issue.

By Businesses, Organizations and Elected Officials

WHEREAS, prominent climatologist James Hansen reported in November 2025 that failures at the national and global level to address the urgent climate crisis have rendered it “implausible” to keep global warming under a critical threshold of 2 degrees Celsius;(1) and 

WHEREAS, the climate emergency is already heavily impacting North Carolinians, especially those most vulnerable, through worsening storms,(2) heat waves, catastrophic flooding events and economic hardship,(3) and is predicted to continue accelerating; and

WHEREAS, the state is headquarters to Duke Energy, one of the world’s largest climate polluters,(4) which plans to build more gas-fired power generation than any other US corporation;(5) and 

WHEREAS, Duke Energy is also proposing to attempt to build more dangerous, failure-prone,(6) and experimental nuclear plants than any other US corporation,(7) which, along with the gas expansion, would likely triple(8) most customers’ power bills; and 

WHEREAS, Duke Energy continues to suppress(9) feasible and inexpensive climate solutions such as solar power paired with batteries, while much of the world is rapidly developing renewable energy; and

WHEREAS, globally-prominent climate scientist Dr. Drew Shindell has urged NC Governor Josh Stein that “it is really an emergency that we change course as quickly as possible. … We really need to use all the levers we can to push Duke Energy away from this fossil fuel path;”(10) and

WHEREAS, the Town of Carrboro is suing Duke Energy Corporation,(11) charging that its top executives have helped lead a nationwide conspiracy of climate deception for decades; and

WHEREAS, Governor Stein should match Carrboro’s courage by breaking through the deception and helping the public understand that North Carolina is on the wrong course, and that Duke Energy must finally begin a genuine transition to clean energy if this state is ever going to help slow the climate crisis; 

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that we, the undersigned, urge NC Governor Josh Stein to become a national climate champion by using every tool available to him(12) to persuade or require Duke Energy executives to phase out deadly and dangerous fuel sources and transition to affordable, resilient, and renewable energy.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we urge Governor Stein, as an initial step, to lead the installation of solar and batteries to make critical public facilities resilient during outages, and further require data centers to include maximum on-site renewables and battery storage to provide their own clean power when investing in new facilities.(13)

This resolution was drafted and circulated by NC WARN and revised on January 27, 2026.
Sign on at tinyurl.com/ncwresolution.

Endnotes

(1) At a UN Climate Change Conference in 2015, nearly all countries signed a treaty in the Paris Agreement to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees C on a 20-year average from pre-industrial times. In a November 2025 paper, James Hansen warned of the increased danger of reaching a “global irreversible point-of-no-return” unless “policy choices in the next 5-10 years” change our course.

(2) Hurricane Helene and Tropical Storm Chantal devastated western and central NC, while many in eastern NC are still out of their homes a decade after Hurricane Matthew. 

(3) According to the Center for Biological Diversity’s February 2025 “Powerless in the United States” report, Duke Energy is seeking more than $1 billion in residential rate increases between 2023 and 2026 in the Carolinas despite already being one of the worst utilities in the country for power shutoffs. 

(4) The Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s 2025 Greenhouse 100 Polluters Index lists Duke Energy as being the third-most climate pollution-emitting corporation in the US.

(5) The Sierra Club reported that as of January 2024, Duke in the Carolinas had the largest planned gas buildout of any utility in the nation, proposing to build 8,925 MW of new gas before 2035. Duke’s proposed buildout of gas-fired power plants has only grown since; Duke now plans (pg. 13) to build 9,650 MW of new gas by 2035 and 12,300 MW by 2040. 

(6) Duke Energy and now-subsidiaries have failed 18 times while trying to build nuclear reactors since the 1970s, costing monopoly-captive customers billions of dollars while failing to generate a single kilowatt of electricity.

(7) Duke Energy said in its 2023 Carbon Plan/Integrated Resource plan (pg. 82) that it proposes to build 16 GW of new nuclear generation by 2050. NC WARN and national allies cannot find any other utility even closely approaching this planned nuclear expansion.

(8) Duke Energy Corporation plans to spend up to $105 billion on construction by 2030. In 2025, the NC General Assembly passed Senate Bill 266, which expands Duke Energy’s ability to charge customers in advance for the development and construction of nuclear plants, even if the plants are never completed. 

(9) Only 1.8% of Duke Energy’s generated power in 2023 came from renewable energy (defined as solar and hydroelectric), according to Duke Energy’s 2023 Annual Report.

(10) The True Cost of Power: Duke Energy’s Climate Deception, a short documentary, features Dr. Drew Shindell urging Governor Stein to change Duke Energy’s course.

(11) The Town of Carrboro sued Duke Energy Corporation in December 2024 for its role in a decades-long campaign of climate deception. More about the lawsuit can be found at SueDukeEnergy.org.

(12) StopDukeEnergy.com explains in further detail Stein’s broad executive authority to stop Duke Energy’s expansion of fossil fuels and suppression of renewables.

(13) A similar solar-plus-storage approach should be required of most new commercial and industrial facilities. The September 2025 letter from NC WARN and the Center for Biological Diversity, signed by hundreds of businesses and organizations, explains in further detail how Governor Stein can implement these initial steps.

About NC WARN

Now in its 38th year, NC WARN is building people power in the climate and energy justice movement to persuade or require Charlotte-based Duke Energy – one of the world’s largest climate polluters – to make a quick transition to renewable, affordable power generation and energy efficiency in order to avert climate tipping points and ongoing rate hikes.

Photo by Chris LeBoutillier on Unsplash