Tag Archives: science and technology

2000 Economist article – “Big business bows to global warming”

An article marking a shift in the chemical and petroleum industry’s acknowledgement of global climate change and its relationship to carbon emissions. The article demonstrates the voluntary measures adopted by industry to mitigate losses on internal rates of return due to carbon-based expenses. Specifically, DuPont stated its intent to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by two-thirds by 2010 compared […]

1998 Report “Climate Change: What does Shell think and do about it?”

“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, but […]

1998 Mobil CEO Lou Noto remarks on “two sided attitude toward climate”

This video and transcript reflects Mobil Corporation CEO and Chairman Lucio “Lou” Noto’s remarks at a February 1998 Employee Forum. Released by ThinkProgress in April 2018, this speech shows Mobil’s awareness of climate change and its relationship to its products. Defending Mobil’s “two-sided attitude toward climate,” Noto maligns the Kyoto Protocol and “mandatory” regulatory measures to […]

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 […]

1998 American Legislative Exhange Council Meeting Agendas

This compilation of documents examines and details the climate change discussions and events held by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) since 1998. The first several pages document the agenda for the 25th annual meeting of ALEC in 1998. The weekend-long meeting hosted several workshops and presentations focused on highlighting the “doubts” surrounding climate change. For instance, one […]

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 presentation “Purported Impact of Climate Change on Human Health”

In 1996, Exxon Biomedical Sciences’ D. J. Devlin gave a presentation titled “Purported Impact of Climate Change on Human Health.” This presentation was part of the Global Climate Coalition’s Science and Technology Assessment Committee’s October 1996 conference call. The meeting minutes were submitted during discovery in Green Mtn. Chrysler Plymouth Dodge Jeep v. Crombie and […]