Duke Energy Corporation — Ethics Grade F

Duke Energy Corporation receives an overall ethics grade of F (18/100) on CancelCo's corporate accountability database. Sector: Energy. Market cap: Large Cap.

Category scores

• labor: 50
• privacy: 60
• consumer: 20
• environment: 10
• humanRights: 40

Documented incidents (3)

• Dan River coal ash spill (high, 2014) — A massive spill from a Duke Energy pipe sent 39,000 tons of toxic coal ash into the Dan River, leading to criminal guilty pleas and millions in fines for Clean Water Act violations.
• Anti-solar lobbying efforts (high, 2021) — Duke Energy has been repeatedly accused of using dark money and aggressive lobbying to block rooftop solar competition and net metering policies in Florida and the Carolinas.
• Unjust rate hikes for coal cleanup (medium, 2023) — State regulators allowed Duke to pass billions of dollars in coal ash cleanup costs onto consumers through rate hikes, rather than using corporate profits to fix their own pollution.

Documented good deeds

• Offshore Wind Investment — Won a federal lease for offshore wind development in North Carolina, aiming to power 500,000 homes with renewable energy.

Ethical alternatives

• NextEra Energy — The world's largest producer of wind and solar energy, leading in the transition to renewables.