4 required to access content from the website. CIEL has provided direct links to the primary documents wherever possible. A small number of documents, including the Stanford Research Institute report from 1968, were obtained through library research or, for documents in very limited circulation, by locating and purchasing physical copies. Q10: What, if any, are CIEL’s findings on these documents? A10: There are 3 key takeaways from these documents. First, many of these documents reflect the petroleum industry’s understanding of climate change at critical moments throughout the twenty-first century. Second, the documents reflect research the industry conducted into alternative explanations for observed climatic changes and potential carbon solutions. Third, the documents support actions taken by the industry to willfully and intentionally mislead and confuse the public. CIEL finds that the major global oil companies conducted and coordinated research into air pollution through the Smoke and Fumes Committee (later Committee on Air and Water Conservation) of the American Petroleum Institute (API) in the United States; they actively used their research apparatus to influence the public understanding and debate surrounding air pollution; at least one oil company Humble Oil (now ExxonMobil) was studying carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in 1957; the Industry as a whole, through API, was studying carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by 1958; the industry as a whole, through API, was warned of the dangers of climate change, and the role of fossil fuels in causing climate change, no later than 1968; documentary evidence demonstrates that the document issuing this warning was widely circulated and viewed. CIEL also finds that the oil companies had early and sophisticated knowledge of historic sea level, paleoclimates, and hurricanes; many of the oil companies were early patent holders for technology, including solar panels, fuel cells, and emissions reduction technologies for carbon dioxide which could have been used to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the resulting impacts of climate change. Q11: What, if any, are the implications of CIEL’s findings? A11: These findings demonstrate that the Carbon Majors were on early, consistent and ongoing notice that (1) the rate and amount of carbon dioxide emissions attributable primarily to production, sale and marketing of their products were contributing to a growing concentration of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere; (2) that continued CO2 emissions could contribute to substantial warming of the earth’s atmosphere; that, over time, it was foreseeable that such warming posed serious and potentially catastrophic risks to the global climate; and, (3) accordingly, that it was well known within the industry that continued production, marketing, and sale of those products could cause potentially severe environmental consequences. Moreover, these companies possessed sophisticated expertise in numerous areas of science relevant to assessing and understanding these risks,