153. 1 The costs of inaction and the opportunities to confront anthropogenic climate 2 change caused by normal consumption of their fossil fuel products, were not lost on Defendants. 3 In a 1997 speech by John Browne, Group Executive for BP America, at Stanford University, 4 Browne described Defendants’ and the entire fossil fuel industry’s responsibility and opportunities 5 to reduce use of fossil fuel products, reduce global CO2 emissions, and mitigate the harms 6 associated with the use and consumption of such products: 7 A new age demands a fresh perspective of the nature of society and responsibility. We need to go beyond analysis and to take action. It is a moment for change and for a rethinking of corporate responsibility. . . . 8 9 [T]here is now an effective consensus among the world's leading scientists and serious and well informed people outside the scientific community that there is a discernible human influence on the climate, and a link between the concentration of carbon dioxide and the increase in temperature. 10 11 The prediction of the IPCC is that over the next century temperatures might rise by a further 1 to 3.5 degrees centigrade [1.8º – 6.3º F], and that sea levels might rise by between 15 and 95 centimetres [5.9 and 37.4 inches]. Some of that impact is probably unavoidable, because it results from current emissions. . . . 12 13 14 [I]t would be unwise and potentially dangerous to ignore the mounting concern. 15 The time to consider the policy dimensions of climate change is not when the link between greenhouse gases and climate change is conclusively proven … but when the possibility cannot be discounted and is taken seriously by the society of which we are part. . . . 16 17 We [the fossil fuel industry] have a responsibility to act, and I hope that through our actions we can contribute to the much wider process which is desirable and necessary. 18 19 BP accepts that responsibility and we're therefore taking some specific steps. 20 To control our own emissions. 21 To fund continuing scientific research. 22 To take initiatives for joint implementation. 23 To develop alternative fuels for the long term. 24 And to contribute to the public policy debate in search of the wider global answers to the problem.134 25 154. 26 Despite Defendants’ knowledge of the foreseeable, measurable harms associated 27 28 SHER EDLING LLP 134 John Browne, BP Climate Change Speech to Stanford, http://www.climatefiles.com/bp/bp-climate-change-speech-to-stanford. COMPLAINT Climate Files (May 19, 1997), 67