Investigations reveal that Shell accurately predicted global warming in private and academic circles since the late 1970s and early 1980s. Exxon's internal documents and peer-reviewed studies by oil company scientists overwhelmingly recognized climate change as accurate and human-caused.
The oil industry didn't just have a vague understanding of global warming decades ago—they were as knowledgeable as academic and government scientists. However, while scientists worked to communicate their findings, oil executives worked to deny them. They exaggerated uncertainties, undermined climate models, promoted the myth of global cooling, pretended to be ignorant about human-caused warming, and ignored the possibility of stranded fossil fuel assets in a carbon-constrained world.
Internal documents reveal that Shell chose not to address the risks they internally recognized, instead embracing uncertainty in science. Peter Frumhoff, director of science and policy and chief climate scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, stated that Shell's solution was to advocate for more oil and gas rather than investing in alternative forms of energy as suggested by the internal documents. 1
The oil industry didn't just have a vague understanding of global warming decades ago—they were as knowledgeable as academic and government scientists. However, while scientists worked to communicate their findings, oil executives worked to deny them. They exaggerated uncertainties, undermined climate models, promoted the myth of global cooling, pretended to be ignorant about human-caused warming, and ignored the possibility of stranded fossil fuel assets in a carbon-constrained world.
Internal documents reveal that Shell chose not to address the risks they internally recognized, instead embracing uncertainty in science. Peter Frumhoff, director of science and policy and chief climate scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, stated that Shell's solution was to advocate for more oil and gas rather than investing in alternative forms of energy as suggested by the internal documents. 1
1. E&E News & Waldman, S. (2018, April 5). Shell Grappled with Climate Change 20 Years Ago, Documents Show, Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/shell-grappled-with-climate-change-20-years-ago-documents-show
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Keith Francis working on “Greed!” in his studio 2023.
