Energy and Policy Institute Research and Communications Manager, Sue Sturgis (File photo)

It’s a great tragedy of our time that the global climate change crisis did not emerge suddenly or as a surprise. Indeed, a powerful new report from the nonprofit Energy and Policy Institute highlights the fact that scientists and energy industry leaders foresaw the crisis decades ago.

The report is entitled “Duke Energy Knew” and it explains in sobering detail how by the 1970s, the utilities that comprise today’s Duke Energy Corporation had early warnings about how burning fossil fuels would lead to climate change. What’s more the report documents how, despite this knowledge, Duke utilities promoted climate change disinformation and opposed legal limits on greenhouse gas emissions. And recently NC Newsline caught up with the report author, Research and Communications Manager for the Energy and Policy Institute, Sue Sturgis.