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Peabody Energy’s Insincere ‘Energy Poverty’ Campaign Takes Major Hit
Peabody Energy’s Insincere ‘Energy Poverty’ Campaign Takes Major Hit
Two stories out late last week in the Guardian will seriously test the resolve of Peabody Energy’s “Advanced Energy for Life” campaign.
The first Guardian article’s title says it all: “Exclusive – Energy giant exploited Ebola crisis for corporate gain, say health experts.”
Ouch.
Journalist Suzanne Goldenberg reports that as part of a “PR offensive to rebrand coal as the ’21st century fuel’ that can help solve global poverty” Peabody Energy’s CEO Greg Boyce claimed in a powerpoint presentation that more energy would “have spurred the distribution of a hypothetical Ebola vaccine.”
Reacting to Peabody’s Ebola claim, public health experts described it as “ludicrous, insulting and opportunistic.”
The second Guardian article, also by Suzanne Goldenberg, exposes a questionable video interview posted on Peabody Energy’s Advanced Energy for Life campaign site.
The video, titled: “From Candles to Computers” is the of story Linda Jing, a woman growing up in rural China who only has candles available to do her schoolwork. As the story goes, Ms. Jing is saved from a life of impoverished living by the wonders of coal.
As the Guardian reports, it turns out that Ms. Jing, who is now an executive at Monsanto, actually grew up in relative prosperity in China. Ms. Jing’s late father was appointed to a senior position at the Dantong coal mining sector in rural China. Her two elder brothers and sisters-in-law still work at the Dantong mine, which also just happens to be the same region that Peabody Energy recently completed a major new deal.
Jing says she was recruited to do the video after she was approached by Peabody at a women’s networking event.
Power for All Shows Peabody a Real Plan to End Energy Poverty
Power for All Shows Peabody a Real Plan to End Energy Poverty
Peabody Energy would like you to believe that coal is the only way to light up the homes of the roughly 1.1 billion who still live in energy poverty.
A new campaign launched Thursday at the United Nations’ Sustainable Energy For All Forum in New York City offers a much different solution. Clean, distributed energy sources, argue the groups behind Power for All, can eliminate energy poverty more quickly and for a fraction of the cost of centralized electric grids anchored by fossil fuels. And, of course, without poisoning the air of communities and lining the atmosphere with even more greenhouse gases.
If the world were to invest just $70 billion, energy poverty could be virtually eliminated from the globe within a decade, with renewable energy filling the void.
The battle for the “energy poverty” high ground
“Energy poverty. It’s the world’s number one human and environmental crisis.”
If spoken from the podium at the United Nations’ Sustainable Energy For All events this week, this line would’ve garnered applause. Rather, it’s copy from an ad for the world’s largest privately held coal company, Peabody Energy, which has poured millions into promoting the fossil fuel as the solution to energy poverty through their Advanced Energy for Life PRcampaign.
Peabody: Advanced Energy for Life
Which is why this coalition of clean energy companies, non-profits, and policy groups behind Power for All is seeking to reclaim the term from the jaws of fossil fuel industry propaganda, and to promote the healthier, more effective, and cheaper alternative of distributed, off-grid clean energy.
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