The above was posted by the indefatigable rjzimmerman, and the story got a lot of play last week. It should be made clear that ExxonMobil has always held the position that carbon emissions contributes to climate change. They’ve not deviated from this. What the company advocates for is a slow down in policy actions. So, for example, in 2002, Exxon took out this full page ad acknowledging humans are affecting climate; but the company makes it clear that aggressive policies to curtail carbon emissions could harm economies in unforeseen ways - after all, economies require intense amounts of fossil fuels to function. Exxon advocated for a more methodological route, and in doing so made the critical error of funding hacks in order to obfuscate the efficacy of climate policy regimes, such as the unprecedented Kyoto Protocol schemes.
I agree that Exxon should be condemned, even sued, for funding organizations that intentionally clouded the science or created false debates. It’ll be difficult to show that nefarious behavior was illegal, unfortunately.
On the other hand, Exxon has - consistently - acknowledged anthropocentric climate change. In fact most, if not all, oil and gas companies publicly share their climate and emissions research right on their websites.
I published a list of oil company’s climate change websites two years ago, here: http://climateadaptation.tumblr.com/post/47456183104/why-dont-oil-companies-hire-climate-deniers.
Oil companies disagree with some of the untested policy tactics advocated by policy makers and environmental groups; the companies openly want clarity on the affects of such policies on economies. These are fair questions! Exxon really fucked up by repackaging these questions by hiring hacks and goons.
Ironically - and virtually unreported - Exxon arguably has funded more research for lowering emissions than they have funded anti-policy groups. See, for one example, “Exxon and others Give $225 Million to Standford to Research Lowering Emissions” NYTimes, November 2002:
Four big international companies, including the oil giant Exxon Mobil, said yesterday that they would give Stanford University $225 million over 10 years for research on ways to meet growing energy needs without worsening global warming.
Exxon Mobil, whose pledge of $100 million makes it the biggest of the four contributors, issued a statement saying new techniques for producing energy while reducing emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases were “vital to meeting energy needs in the industrialized and developing world.”
Many scientists and environment experts said the Stanford project was likely to be a valuable new assault on a serious environmental problem. NYTimes.
germansingergirl
dailybridgerton
titsay
izzy806
snowghoul
romaincrisis
theartofmadeline
annaxmalina
areudirty
