Statement of Resource Person, Dylan Tanner 6 November 2018 5) A summary of Climate Denial and Deception by the Fossil Fuel Value Chain 7. This statement refers to the “Fossil Fuel Value Chain” as fossil fuel producers (e.g. ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell), the fossil fuel supply and infrastructure chain (e.g. pipelines, oil/gas services) large-scale users of fossil fuels for combustion and energy (e.g. coal/gas-based utilities, cement, steel, chemicals) and companies whose products generate or consume significant greenhouse gas emissions in their production/use (e.g. automotive sector). All of the Carbon Majors noted in the petition are in the fossil fuel value chain, and henceforth our analysis will focus on the Carbon Majors and the external lobbying groups they fund. 8. It has been documented how various Carbon Major companies have attempted to undermine the findings of the scientific community and the recommendations of the IPCC on the need for urgent action, including strong national policy measures. 15 For example, a study by Harvard University researchers16 found that ExxonMobil has misled the public over a multi-decade period on climate change. In the case of ExxonMobil, these and other studies led the New York State Attorney General and other regulators to announce investigations as to “whether ExxonMobil Corporation and other fossil fuel companies may have violated, variously, racketeering, consumer protection, or investor protection statutes through their communications regarding anthropogenic global warming.”17 9. The Global Climate Coalition (GCC) (1989–2001) was an international lobby group of businesses that opposed action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and challenged the science behind global warming; its members included ExxonMobil, Shell Oil, BP and key lobbying groups the American Petroleum Institute and the US Chamber of Commerce. A 2015 study by the Union of Concerned Scientists highlighted the active deception propagated by this group of companies on climate change.18 According to the Los Angeles Times, GCC members integrated analysis from the IPCC and other climate models into their own business while publicly criticizing these models and the resulting recommendations on regulation. 19 10. InfluenceMap’s analysis of opposition to climate change regulations by the Carbon Majors begins in around 2010. By this time, the GCC had been disbanded and fossil fuel value chain companies had started to publicly accept some of the scientific findings of the IPCC. However, 15 ExxonKnew.org, accessed October 2018 16 Assessing ExxonMobil's climate change communications, G Supran & N Oreskes, Environmental Research Letters, August 2017 17 Press Release, AG Schneiderman, former Vice President Al Gore and a coalition of Attorneys Generals, 2016 18 "The Climate Deception Dossiers", Mulvey, Kathy; Shulman, Seth, July 2015 19 Big Oil braced for global warming while it fought regulations, Los Angeles Times, Lieberman, Amy; Rust, Susanne, December 2015 5