#ExxonKnew about #ClimateChange almost 40 years ago

A new investigation shows the oil company understood the science before it became a public issue and spent millions to promote #misinformation

By Shannon Hall on October 26, 2015

"One thing is certain: in June 1988, when #NASA scientist #JamesHansen told a congressional hearing that the planet was already warming, #Exxon remained publicly convinced that the science was still controversial. Furthermore, experts agree that Exxon became a leader in campaigns of confusion. By 1989 the company had helped create the #GlobalClimateCoalition (disbanded in 2002) to question the scientific basis for concern about climate change. It also helped to prevent the #USA from signing the international treaty on climate known as the #KyotoProtocol in 1998 to control #GreenhouseGases . Exxon’s tactic not only worked on the U.S. but also stopped other countries, such as #China and #India, from signing the treaty. At that point, 'a lot of things unraveled,' Oreskes says.

"But experts are still piecing together Exxon’s misconception puzzle. Last summer the Union of Concerned Scientists released a complementary investigation to the one by InsideClimate News, known as the Climate Deception Dossiers (pdf). 'We included a memo of a coalition of fossil-fuel companies where they pledge basically to launch a big communications effort to sow doubt,' says union president Kenneth Kimmel. 'There’s even a quote in it that says something like ‘Victory will be achieved when the average person is uncertain about climate science.’ So it’s pretty stark.'

"Since then, Exxon has spent more than $30 million on #ThinkTanks that promote ClimateDenial, according to #Greenpeace. Although experts will never be able to quantify the damage Exxon’s misinformation has caused, 'one thing for certain is we’ve lost a lot of ground,' Kimmell says. Half of the greenhouse gas emissions in our atmosphere were released after 1988. 'I have to think if the fossil-fuel companies had been upfront about this and had been part of the solution instead of the problem, we would have made a lot of progress [today] instead of doubling our greenhouse gas emissions.'"

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/exxon-knew-about-climate-change-almost-40-years-ago/

#ClimateCrisis #ClimateChange #ClimateCatastrophe #ExtremeWeather #HexonExxon #BigOil