Warned of ‘massive’ climate-led extinction, a US energy firm funded crisis denial ads Southern Company spent $62.1m over the years to deny the impact of fossil fuel combustion on climate crisis In 1980, a report circulated to a division of one of the biggest coal-burning utilities in the US warned that “fossil fuel combustion” was rapidly warming the atmosphere and could cause a “massive extinction of plant and animal species” along with a “5 to 6-meter rise in sea level” across the world. Several years later an official at the utility co-chaired a conference where scientific researchers fretted that “as we continue to exploit the vast deposits of fossil fuels” it could cause “disruptive climate changes”. Continue reading…