Tag Archives: global carbon cycle

1998 Shell Internal TINA Group Scenarios 1998-2020 Report

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. Named “TINA” for “There is no alternative” the scenarios anticipate changes […]

1998 Shell Speech “Reflections on Kyoto” presented at Davos World Economic Forum

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 reckoned […]

1997 Shell Presentation “Sustainable Development – the challenge for energy”

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 some […]

1996 Exxon’s Lee Raymond Speech at API Annual Meeting

In 1996 Exxon Corporation’s Chairman Lee Raymond addressed the members and guests of American Petroleum Institute’s (“API”) Annual Meeting at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Washington D.C. The speech championed the economic benefits of fossil fuels, industry-wide coalition building, and technological advancements. Raymond’s theme throughout the speech was “a factual, common sense approach” to contemporary […]

1996 Exxon’s Lee Raymond “Energy, The Economy, And The Environment: Moving Forward Together”

In 1996 Exxon Corporation’s Chairman Lee Raymond delivered a speech titled “Energy, The Economy, And The Environment: Moving Forward Together” to the Economic Club of Detroit. Raymond underscored the common bonds and past accomplishments of the petroleum and automotive industries in “fighting a battle against misinformation.” Outlining “the need for economic growth and energy development […]

1996 Global Climate Coalition Science and Technology April Minutes and Membership

These documents reflect meeting minutes and work product of the industry-led Global Climate Coalition’s (GCC) Science and Technology Assessment Committee (STAC). The GCC opposed greenhouse gas regulations through direct engagement and collaboration with affiliated climate deniers from 1989 to 2002. Its membership spanned across the automotive, utility, manufacturing, petroleum, and mining industries. These documents demonstrate […]

1996 Shell Management Brief “The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change”

This is a 1996 primer for Shell International executives on the history and current status of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (“IPCC”) scientific process and conclusions. It also summarizes the workings of the IPCC’s political adjunct, the Framework Convention on Climate Change (“FCCC”). This document is a part of a larger collection discovered by […]

1982 Exxon speech “Inventing the Future: Energy and the CO2 ‘Greenhouse’ Effect”

This is a speech to a 1982 gathering of climate scientists at the Lamont-Doherty Geophysical Observatory by Dr. E. E. David, Jr., president of the Exxon Research and Engineering Company, regarding the “greenhouse effect,” i.e. climate change, and the importance of scientific research in figuring out how to respond to it – how to “invent […]

1965 API President “Meeting the Challenges of 1966”

This document, uncovered by Benjamin Franta in a letter to the Editor of Nature, contains the annual remarks of the American Petroleum Institute’s (“API”) President, Frank Ikard. Delivered in 1965, Ikard was preparing the oil industry for the challenges in the coming year. Significant for his acknowledgement of the 1965 Science Advisory Committee report (“Report”) that highlighted climate change and carbon emission hazards, Ikard worried of the industry’s challenges as they “grow in number, size, and complexity year by year.” In the face of The Water Quality Act, Clean Air Act amendment, and local regulations addressing pollution, Ikard said “[i]t takes no crystal ball to see that our involvement in government matters will intensify in the year ahead.”