HOW LONG HAVE THESE COMPANIES KNOWN THE TRUTH ABOUT THE CO2 CRISIS?

The U.s.-based oil and gas company Exxonmobil has an annual turnover of $279 billion, which makes it one of the world’s largest companies by revenue (comparable to the entire economy of Finland), and it is also among the top 10 producers of CO2 emissions. A comprehensive peer-reviewed study by Harvard University researchers has shown that Exxonmobil spent decades misleading the public about climate change and the risks posed by fossil fuel emissions. With its own in-house climate models the company confirmed the global warming consensus in the early 1980s but publicly denied it. While Exxonmobil may dispute the data, the facts speak a clear language: The study has reviewed the company’s internal deliberations, scientific research, and public rhetoric. The conclusion: “On the question of whether Exxonmobil had misled non-scientific audiences regarding climate science, our analysis supports the conclusion that it did.” There was also “a systematic discrepancy between what Exxonmobil’s scientists and executives discussed about climate change privately and in academic circles and what it presented to the general public.” When the CO2 contamination of the atmosphere reached a record high in May of 2019, climate researchers reviewed Exxonmobil’s projections and found the company’s predictions made 37 years earlier were right on the mark. The company knew that the polar ice caps were going to melt. But while 83% of peer-reviewed papers written by company scientists acknowledged that climate change is real and caused by humans, only 12% of company ads acknowledged those facts while more than 80% expressed doubt.