Summary An interview with climatologist Patrick Michaels, the current Director of the Center for the Study of Science at the Cato Institute and past president of the American Association of State Climatologists. In the interview, Michaels diminishes carbon’s effect on global warming, dismisses rising global temperatures, and advocates for a “do nothing” public policy approach […]
Summary In April 2000, Exxon published a collection of Op Eds it had submitted across the country in order to influence public understanding of the risks of climate change and proposed solutions. The series here includes articles entitled “Do No Harm,” “Unsettled Science,” “The Promise of Technology,” and “The Path Forward on Climate Change.” Each […]
Summary This pamphlet is a collection of information aimed to highlight uncertainty around climate models and whether fossil fuels contribute to climate change. The article offers alternative theories and research, many of which are supported by Exxon rather than independent scientists. “A Better Path Forward” includes a forward by then Exxon CEO Lee Raymond and […]
Summary This 1999 “State of the Climate Report” is a collection of essays on climate change written by noted climate-denying scientists, many of whom have established financial relationships with the fossil fuel industry. The initial essays of the report present arguments that the unusually warm temperatures of recent years are not associated with climate change […]
Summary “Climate Change: What does Shell think and do about it?” is a 1998 handout from a trove of Royal Dutch/Shell Group (“Shell”) documents unearthed by Jelmer Mommers of De Correspondent. Printed to explain the science of climate change and what the company was doing to address it, Shell resisted calling climate change a threat, […]
In 1995 Royal Dutch/Shell Group (“Shell”) initiated a scenario planning process to examine how the company should respond to the forces of globalization, liberalization, and technology. The resulting internal reports, first published in 1998, have now been unearthed by Jelmer Mommers of De Correspondent. The project group was named “TINA” for “There Is No Alternative” […]
Summary At the 1998 World Economic Forum, Royal Dutch/Shell Group’s (“Shell”) Chairman of the Committee of the Managing Directors, Cor Herkströter, delivered his “Reflections on Kyoto” to the attendees. A part of a larger group of documents unearthed by Jelmer Mommers of De Correspondent, this document marks an important time in Shell’s history as they […]
Summary Mobil Chairman, President, and CEO, Lucio Noto, releases the company’s brochure on global climate change. Language in the brochure is similar to a November 1997 document prepared by Mobil’s General Manager of Government Relations, Anthony Corso. The brochure emphasizes that manmade carbon dioxide emissions account for 3% of total carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere, […]
Summary This document is a presentation at the “Business and the Environment Programme” by John Jennings, a Shell Managing Director and Chairman of Shell Transport and Trading Company. Part of a larger collection discovered by Jelmer Mommers of De Correspondent in a trove of internal Shell documents, this presentation shows the discord within Shell, as […]
Summary 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, […]