Shocking revelations: Oil giants knew about climate change since 1960s, report says

The world’s leading oil and gas giants have known since “at least“the 1960s that fossil fuels would cause global warming but they persisted in denying it and even practiced disinformation, according to a report by American parliamentarians.”For more than half a century, Big Oil has deceived the American public about its role in the climate crisis, doing everything in its power to keep the United States and the entire world dependent on their polluting products“, denounces the report of a commission of inquiry of elected Democrats from the House of Representatives, published Tuesday.

THE “Big Oil” are the six giants and organizations scrutinized during this investigation launched in September 2021: ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP America, Shell, the American Petroleum Institute (API) representing the oil sector and the Chamber of Commerce.

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“All six (…) obstructed and delayed“this investigation by refusing to submit”despite summons“, underlines the 65-page report entitled “Denial, Disinformation, and Doublespeak: Evolving Big Oil Efforts to Dodge Responsibility for Climate Change“.

After describing climate change as “prank“and having denied its very existence, notes the report, the oil sector was forced to”change posture“facing science”that was becoming too overwhelming to continue denying“They then, he continues, “developed a campaign of deception and doublespeak (supported by an armada of professional organizations) publicly claiming to support climate action but taking behind-the-scenes actions to avoid it“.

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Responsibilities

And also, indicate the elected officials, affirming that natural gas was “on“for the climate and that it could be useful”energy transition towards a future without fossil fuels“.”It is past time to hold Big Oil accountable for its campaign of deception and take action to remedy the damage it has caused.“, the report concludes.

It’s about “old allegations that have already been addressed in congressional hearings on this topic and in lawsuits“, ExxonMobil reacted to AFP. “As we have said time and again, climate change is real and an entire branch of our group is dedicated to reducing emissions (ours and those of others),” he continued, asserting that its annual budget was a third of that of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

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For his part, an API spokesperson noted that the sector “focused on providing reliable, affordable oil and gas to Americans while developing the next generation of low-emissions technologies like hydrogen and CO2 capture“.

“Any suggestion to the contrary is inaccurate“, he said. This is in fact not the first time that it has emerged that oil groups have known for several decades the harmful effect of fossil fuels on the climate. The subject was discussed during hearings carried out by this parliamentary commission, before which the oil majors had notably been put under the grill.

In January 2023, a study published in the journal Science revealed the remarkable accuracy of ExxonMobil scientists’ predictions of rising temperatures, some dating back to 1977. But, in 2000, the group’s CEO Lee Raymond claimed not to have “sufficient scientific understanding of climate change to make reasonable predictions.“Several legal proceedings have already been launched, notably against the company in the United States.

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