Below is an annotated collection of documents gathered through the years amassing evidence of corporate efforts to deny the connection between climate change and extreme weather events. There are two major blocks of evidence: They knew climate change would cause extreme weather: Corporate entities “knew” extreme weather would be an impact of anthropogenic climate change. […]
In September 1996, Exxon Research and Engineering Company’s Brian Flannery delivered a presentation to Exxon subsidiary Esso Italiana titled “Global Climate Change.” A part of a larger collection released by Jelmer Mommers of De Correspondent in a trove of internal oil and gas industry documents, this document shows Flannery’s denial of climate change science, doubt […]
Responding to the public’s awareness of anthropogenic climate change, American Petroleum Institute’s (API) 1996 “Reinventing Energy: Making the Right Choices,” supported climate denial and argued for inaction. On behalf of its corporate membership comprised of oil majors, API’s interdepartmental team of economists, government affairs staffers, and “strategic communications” experts discussed public health and environmental safety […]
On February 24th, 1994, ABC’s Nightline aired a news segment titled, “Is Science for Sale?” Its host, Ted Koppel, explained the piece was prompted by a conversation with then Vice President Al Gore. The segment features many prominent climate change deniers including: Fred Singer of the Science and Environmental Policy Project, Ron Arnold of the […]
December 6-8, 1988 an international group of dignitaries, politicians, scientists, economists, and industry representatives attended the Climate Institute’s second North American conference on “Preparing for Climate Change.” The following 731 page document contains the conference’s agenda, transcriptions of the various panelists’ remarks, and peer-reviewed articles related to climate change. In its totality, the book thoroughly […]
This document contains a chart from a 1988 New York Times front page, which graphs the global temperature change since 1880. The graph, created by James Hansen, a leading expert on climate change at NASA, makes clear that global warming was a well-established fact that attracted wide public attention as early as 1988. The chart was used as evidence at […]
This 1988 research proposal and purchase order from Shell Western outlines Shell’s work in using sea level and sea temperature to determine the longevity of their operations in Alaska. The proposal, “An Analog System for Prediction of Sea Ice Severity,” was sent by E.G. Ward, then Manager of Shell’s Offshore Engineering Research Department, to J. […]
This is a presentation given by Exxon Research and Engineering Company’s Brian P. Flannery, who became one of Exxon’s primary climate researchers after joining the company in 1980. His initial research for Exxon on the relationship between CO2 and climate change confirmed the results that other scientists were finding at the time, predicting that doubling […]
This 1984 document is a presentation by Henry Shaw, a manager with Exxon Research & Engineering’s Technology Feasibility center, regarding “CO2 Greenhouse and Climate Issues.” The presentation is one of many documents from Exxon’s history, demonstrating their active research into and knowledge of anthropogenic climate change and its impacts. The presentation lists some of the […]
This 1984 patent filed by Shell Oil Company for an Arctic offshore drilling structure is part of a larger collection of documents assembled by the Smoke & Fumes project of the Center for International Environmental Law. The patent demonstrates Shell’s efforts to fortify its offshore platforms for extreme ice flow in the Alaska region. Based […]