Berkshire Hathaway Leadership Called Out for Coal at 2025 Shareholder Meeting

A significant transition is underway at Berkshire Hathaway, with longtime CEO Warren Buffet formally retiring as CEO, and Greg Abel, Vice Chair and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Energy, stepping into the CEO and Chair role at the end of 2025. Berkshire is a $1.1 trillion conglomerate, owning and managing insurance, utilities, energy, transportation and other businesses, and holding large shares in publicly traded corporations such as Apple, Chevron, Coca Cola, and dozens more.  

Buffet announced the news at the Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholder meeting in Omaha on May 3. Members of the Clean Up MidAm coalition, including IEC staff and supporters, were present to continue to remind company leadership and shareholders that Berkshire Hathaway Energy’s coal plant fleet is damaging the health and environment in cities across the U.S., including in Iowa, where MidAmerican Energy operations five plants (in Ottumwa, Louisa, Council Bluffs, and two in Sioux City.) 

At the shareholder meeting, a high school student from Omaha directed a question about the coal plants to Abel. The following is the transcript, and you can watch the exchange here.  

Question: “Hello Mr. Buffett and Mr. Abel, my name is Kansas Lohmeier. I am a junior at Elk Horn South High School and was born and raised in Omaha. My question is directed to Greg Abel: ...A 2025 Reuters investigation found that [Berkshire’s] coal fleet is the dirtiest in the nation. There’s currently no concrete plan to retire coal and fully transition to renewable energy. I’m 17 years old, considering that, what do you say to young people like me who will have to live with consequences of climate change caused by companies like Berkshire?” 

Response from Greg Abel: "Thank you for your, both your question and your comments because it is important to understand say, Berkshire Hathaway Energy but also how they operate and maybe using Iowa at least as a starting example ‘cause I think that was one of the states cited in the report. 

"One of the important things that I’d say early in us acquiring our energy companies and I go back to when we acquired MidAmerican. We acquired it in 1999; Berkshire purchased MidAmerican in 2000, but one thing that became very clear to myself and our teams was that what we do within our utilities is really driven in two fronts: One, we absolutely have to meet the requirements and the law that’s laid out federally but most importantly we had to recognize we implement public policy across these states and that was an interesting conversation when I go back to Iowa and report that as a significant problem? 

"It was early in the 2000s when for the first time in Iowa, we are going to as a utility be short power. So, we didn’t have the energy and we entered into a significant discussion with our governor at the time, and really sat down and said where do you want us to go as MidAmerican, and what resources do you want as a state. And, at that time, we were predominantly a coal-based state, and we recognize that, obviously and fundamentally, personally view it as a risk, but we needed to have that conversation with our state and as to how we would manage that going forward. 

"The interesting thing was that as we had that conversation in the early 2000s again with the leadership of our state, it was clearly decided that we wanted to continue to be long power so i.e., not be short for our customers. We discussed the type of resource, and I remember a very clear conversation around, we wanted to stay balanced across a variety of energy sources. And at that time, it was really coal and natural gas. And at that time we made the decision to build the largest wind project in the US in Iowa.? 

"So, we undertook an effort to build three resources: a coal plant, a gas plant, and what was the first wind project we owned in MidAmerican. And, again, it was very consistent with what the state wanted. But we also laid some important groundwork there because we started to define the importance of renewable energy non-carbon resources, but it has to be consistent with what the state wanted. And we’ve gone over the, since that period of time, to deploy $16 billion into Iowa associated with renewable energy, again very consistent with what our state wanted us to do, i.e., the underlying policy, we don’t get to make that decision and just spend $16 billion. It’s done in conjunction with our governors, our legislators, our regulators and at the same time, we’ve had the opportunity to retire five of the 10 coal units.

"Now, as the report highlighted, I understand, people would like those other five coal units retired at this time. But to think we’ve deployed $16 billion to retire five, and it’s a very good outcome for our customers we’ve been able to maintain our rates. They’re some of the lowest in the country, so it’s been done very efficiently but the reality is we still need those five coal units to keep the system stable. We cannot have a Spain/Portugal situation.  

"So we absolutely respect the input, we absolutely respect the process, and will continue to work with each of our states to identify the path they would like to chart, and we work hard to ensure, you know, there’s good balanced outcomes because we recognize the challenges they’re associated with other folks’ desires. So, I think you’ll continue to see our utilities implement policy, consistent with the needs of their stakeholders, their customers, and at the same time always respecting what’s required by any of the federal standards. So thank you for your comments.” 

The Clean Up MidAm coalition responded with the following statement:  

“Warren Buffett is retiring, but what about the coal plants? While Berkshire Hathaway’s leadership is changing, Iowans are still living with the daily impacts of Berkshire running one of the largest and dirtiest coal fleets in the country through its subsidiary MidAmerican Energy. 

As the leader of Berkshire Hathaway Energy, Abel has ignored the negative air and water impacts these coal plants have in Iowa, and we fear little will change as he ascends to the top of the conglomerate. The toxic emissions from these coal plants have polluted Iowa’s air, causing increases in asthma and other health issues, and the coal ash waste generated has contaminated groundwater with carcinogens. It is time for Greg Abel to be a true leader and make a real plan to transition to clean energy for the health of Iowans."

To learn more and get involved in the campaign to retire Iowa's coal plants, visit CleanUpMidAm.com.