22 C E N T E R F O R I N T E R N AT I O N A L E N V I R O N M E N TA L L AW carbon dioxide were not shared with DOI. By no later than 1968, therefore, the oil industry was receiving warnings from its own scientists that evidence of climate change was credible and that, despite uncertainties about the scale and timing of impacts, the potential risks of climate change were real and serious. © mrganso/Pixabay Between 1977 and 1982, scientists at Exxon and other oil companies repeatedly acknowledged the scientific consensus that climate change was happening, was caused primarily by the burning of fossil fuels, and had the potential to be globally catastrophic. Exxon internally transmitted its understanding of this in a 43-page climate change primer. An Exxon subsidiary was conducting scientific research in the Arctic no later than 1986, which examined the effects climate change would have on intended operations. It has been documented that in 1989, Shell Oil deliberately changed the design of their offshore oil drilling platform to account for sea level rise, and that in 1991, the leader of the Imperial Oil expedition acknowledged that internal planning would need to account for climatic changes in the Arctic. In 1995, fossil fuel interests were fully aware that the fundamental realities of climate science were overwhelming supported by the weight of credible science and that a response was urgently needed. From the 1970s forward, therefore, scientists within the oil industry not only acknowledged the scientific consensus that climate change was occurring, but took potential climate impacts into account in the companies’ own long-term plans. In 1998, the American Petroleum Institute developed a public relations strategy with the aim of sowing doubt about the certainty of climate science in the minds of the public, legislators, and regulators. ExxonMobil, API, and others funded research into debunked theories to explain rising atmospheric temperatures without disclosing the source of funding. Analysis demonstrates that, while Exxon’s internal understanding of climate change was advanced, its public communications between 1977 and 2014 expressed significant doubt and uncertainty. In 2014, the Western States Petroleum Association fought against state-level regulation in California by misrepresenting public will through the use of “Astroturf ” front groups. Many oil and gas companies continue to donate money to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which promotes climate-denial to this day. Finally, ExxonMobil and its executives still continue their pattern of downplaying both the severity of climate change and the role of human emissions in it. From the 1990s forward, therefore, the oil industry acknowledged climate science internally and took measures to incorporate climate risks into their own project planning, while maintaining active campaigns to promote skepticism of climate change science and climate risks among policymakers, journalists, and the public. From the 1950s onward, oil companies developed and patented numerous technologies that might have been deployed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including fuel cells and advanced batteries, low-emission vehicle technologies, and technologies for removing carbon dioxide from industrial From the 1990s forward, therefore, the oil industry acknowledged climate science internally and took measures to incorporate climate risks into their own project planning, while maintaining active campaigns to promote skepticism of climate change science and climate risks among policymakers, journalists, and the public. waste streams. In 1980, an ExxonMobil subsidiary acknowledged the potential value of the company’s patents in addressing climate risks, but noted that doing so would raise the costs of the company’s patents unacceptably. By the end of the 1980s, major oil companies owned or controlled the majority of solar panel production in the United States. From the 1980s forward, therefore, one or more oil companies had the technical capacity and the opportunity to reduce climate risks associated with greenhouse gas emissions, but chose not to do so for commercial reasons.