The Oil Companies Knew about Climate Change by the 1960s
Climate and CO2
CO2 is important in sustaining a habitable temperature for the planet. “Greenhouse gases” (GHGs) such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxides, and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) let in most of the incoming solar radiation that heats Earth’s surface, yet prevent part of the outgoing thermal radiation from escaping to space, thus trapping some of the surface heat energy. If there were no GHGs, Earth would be too cold, with mean surface temperatures of ~18 deg C (Ref. 9).
The 0.037% CO2 content of clean air permits human survival and like other greenhouse gases:
“It transmits visible light but absorbs the infrared radiation which is emitted from the earth” — Edward Teller.
Relatively simple physics worked out in the 19th century, since corroborated by experiment and observation, show that adding CO2 to the atmosphere will raise Earth’s average temperature.
Since the Industrial Revolution, energy-driven consumption of fossil fuels has led to a rapid increase in CO2 emissions, disrupting the global carbon cycle and leading to a planetary warming impact. Global warming and a changing climate have a range of potential ecological, physical and health impacts, including extreme weather events (such as floods, droughts, storms, and heatwaves); sea-level rise, altered crop growth; and disrupted water systems.
Climate Change Denial
In the mid-1950s oil companies via leading industry body the American Petroleum Institute [API], started to discover the harsh truth about Climate Change and Global Warming (Ref. 6). Edward Teller, nuclear physicist and former colleague of Robert Oppenheimer warned about Global Warming in 1959 at a speech for the centennial of the API (Ref. 4).
At the end of 1960s and in the early 1970s, the API had commissioned landmark work predicting future temperature and sea level rises quite accurately and concluded that potentially “severe” climate change was almost certain to occur (Refs. 1, 2 & 3).
“By the late 1970s, global warming was no longer speculative. The issue was not were we going to have a problem, the issue was simply how soon and how fast and how bad was it going to be. Not if.” — Dr. Edward Garvey: Exxon climate researcher, 1978–83. Interviewed 2015 & 2018.
Exxon Timeline (Ref. 6)
1954: American Petroleum Institute warns that fossil fuels were increasing atmospheric CO2.
1957: Humble Oil (subsequently Exxon) quantifies “cumulative mass of fossil carbon dioxide”.
1959: API warned by Edward Teller about “greenhouse effect”, global warming and sea level rise.
1968/69/72: API-commissioned reports warn of potentially “severe” climate change.
1977: Exxon scientist briefs executives on global warming projections & climatic effects.
1978–9: Request for a “credible scientific team” for climate research at Exxon.
These findings were suppressed. Lies, deceit, obfuscation and propaganda continued for decades. It was hoped that CO2 abstraction technologies would be invented to permit the continued discovery and selling of oil and gas, predominantly to serve the automobile industry.
Shell and BP
Investigations began with ExxonMobil but are unlikely to end there. The largest five stock market listed oil and gas companies spend nearly $200m (£153m) a year lobbying to delay, control or block policies to tackle climate change. Chevron, BP and ExxonMobil are the main companies leading the field in direct lobbying to push against a climate policy to tackle global warming (Ref. 7).
In late 2017 it was reported that BP the European oil company had been funding the Institute of Economic Affairs “think tank” (Ref. 5), a primary influencer of BREXIT, based in the same London location as other politically oriented groups including the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF).
A legal suit was filed in April 2019 against Royal Dutch Shell in the Netherlands to legally compel the company to address its role in the climate crisis. The case was filed on behalf seven organisations and more than 17,000 individual plaintiffs (Ref. 8).
A Shell executive authored a 1958 report noting industry research into fossil carbon in the atmosphere. In 1962, Shell’s Chief Geologist acknowledged possible human and environmental risks of global warming and highlighted calls by other scientists to increase reliance on solar energy.
In a 1991 film, Shell acknowledged the scale and scope of potential climate harms to human society, ecosystems, and the environment, and warned of potential impacts to food security and the rise of “global warming refugees. Despite these warnings, and contrary to its public image, Shell maintained active membership in an array of industry trade and front groups that carried out a decades-long campaign of climate denial and climate obstruction.
Planet Earth is where it is today as a result of lies, deceit and propaganda.
References
1. Scientific American (2015), “Exxon Knew About Climate Change Almost 40 Years Ago”, 26th October 2015.
www.scientificamerican.com/article/exxon-knew-about-climate-change-almost-40-years-ago/
2. Center for International Environmental Law [CIEL] (2017), “Smoke and Fumes: The Legal and Evidentiary Basis for Holding Big Oil Accountable for the Climate Crisis”,
www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Smoke-Fumes.pdf
[Excerpts: www.smokeandfumes.org/documents/16]
4. Guardian (2018), “On Its 100th birthday in 1959, Edward Teller Warned the Oil Industry About Global Warming”, 1st January 2018.
5. Unearthed (2018), “Revealed: BP and Gambling Interests Fund Secretive Free Market Think Tank”, 30th July 2018.
unearthed.greenpeace.org/2018/07/30/bp-funding-institute-of-economic-affairs-gambling/
6. Supran, G. (2019), “Assessing ExxonMobil’s Climate Change Communications”, Geoffrey Supran, PhD, History of Science, Harvard University (gjsupran@fas.harvard.edu), Presentation to European Parliament, Joint PETI and ENVI Public Hearing on Climate Change Denial, 21st March 2019, p.68.
www.europarl.europa.eu/committees/en/envi/events-hearings.html?id=20190313CHE06141
www.europarl.europa.eu/cmsdata/162144/Presentation%20Geoffrey%20Supran.pdf
7. Guardian (2019), “Top Oil Firms Spending Millions Lobbying to Block Climate Change Policies, says Report”, 22nd March 2019.
8. CIEL (2019), “Historic Climate Lawsuit Against Shell Filed in the Netherlands”, 5th April 2019.
www.ciel.org/news/historic-climate-case-against-shell-filed-in-the-netherlands/
9. Our World in Data “CO₂ and Greenhouse Gas Emissions”
