ExxonMobil: Oil Big Predicts 1970s Climate Change – Scientist

To Georgina LanardBBC Climate and Science Reporter

One of the world’s largest oil companies accurately predicted how climate change would raise global temperatures as long ago as the 1970s, researchers say.

A private study by ExxonMobil predicted how burning fossil fuels would warm the planet, but the company has publicly denied the link, they suggest.

Academics analyzed data from internal company documents.

ExxonMobil denied the allegations.

“This question has come up several times over the years, and in each case our answer is the same. People who say ‘Exxon knew’ are wrong,” the company said. Told. BBC.

Companies, including ExxonMobil, make billions of dollars by selling fossil fuels that emit emissions that scientists, governments and the United Nations claim are responsible for global warming.

The findings suggest that ExxonMobil’s predictions are often more accurate than the world’s leading NASA scientists.

“This clearly shows the blatant hypocrisy of ExxonMobil management. while having access to , and telling us that climate models are bullshit,” said Naomi Oreskes of Harvard University Science.

Co-author Geoffrey Supran, associate professor of environmental science and policy at the University of Miami, called the findings “smoking guns.”

“Our analysis makes it possible for the first time to actually quantify what Exxon knew: burning fossil fuel products heats the planet by about 0.2 degrees Celsius every decade. is,” he said.

No researcher had ever quantified the scientific evidence in the ExxonMobil documents, he said.

Exxon cites court ruling

In response, ExxonMobil concluded, “ExxonMobil executives and employees alike committed to the rigorous performance of their duties with the most comprehensive and meticulous care possible.” pointed out a U.S. court ruling in 2007.

“ExxonMobil is committed to being part of the solution to climate change and the risks it poses,” said a spokeswoman.

ExxonMobil denies the latest allegations.
photograph: RNZ / Dan Cook

Comparing ExxonMobil’s work to NASA’s James Hansen, who sounded the climate alarm in 1988, Sprang said, “Their excellent climate modeling is one of the most influential and acclaimed in modern history. “It performed at least as well as one of the climate scientists out there.”

Professor Oreskes said the findings show that ExxonMobil “deliberately misled” the public and the government. “They had all this information at their disposal, but they said very different things in public.”

Previous investigations uncovered Exxon documents suggesting the company was trying to spread skepticism about science. An internal paper presented “Exxon’s position” on the greenhouse effect, “underscoring the uncertainty of scientific conclusions.”

Research Finds Need for Emissions Reduction

Research published in academic journals chemistryand that ExxonMobil has reasonable estimates of how emissions will need to be cut to avoid the worst effects of climate change in a world that has warmed more than 2°C. suggested.

Their scientists also rightly rejected the theory that there would be an Ice Age when other researchers were still debating the possibility.

Professors Oreskes and Supran conducted an investigation after journalists found evidence in 2015 that suggested ExxonMobil knew about climate change, but said ExxonMobil “picked the truth”. condemned.

The professors plotted scientific data from more than 100 publications from Exxon and ExxonMobil between 1977 and 2014 to calculate projections of global temperature rise.

Professor Oreskes suggested that publicly calling the model “speculative” or “bad science” shows the company’s use of climate science internally.

The findings add to the ongoing pressure on the company over what it knows about climate change. Campaigners have sued the company in a number of U.S. courts, claiming it spread misinformation to protect its business interests in fossil fuels.

In May, a Massachusetts, US court ruled that ExxonMobil should go to trial after being accused of lying about climate change.

-BBC