Executives privately sought to downplay link between fossil fuels and climate change despite public pronouncements, WSJ reports

ExxonMobil executives privately sought to undermine climate science even after the oil and gas giant publicly acknowledged the link between fossil fuel emissions and climate change, according to previously unreported documents revealed by the Wall Street Journal.

The new revelations are based on previously unreported documents subpoenaed by New York’s attorney general as part of an investigation into the company announced in 2015. They add to a slew of documents that record a decades-long misinformation campaign waged by Exxon, which are cited in a growing number of state and municipal lawsuits against big oil.

Many of the newly released documents date back to the 2006-16 tenure of former chief executive Rex Tillerson, who oversaw a major shift in the company’s climate messaging. In 2006, Exxon publicly accepted that the climate crisis posed risks, and it went on to support the Paris agreement. Yet behind closed doors, the company behaved differently, the documents show.

  • Carighan Maconar@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Incidentally why I believe that every major decision needs to be undersigned by at least 50% people under the age of 30, that explicitly sign that they are also to be held criminally responsible for anything these decisions result in even after they are no longer part of the compant and that they are only signing this after having reached a mutual agreement with the older people about this situation.

    Can’t find enough youngsters to sign that? Well, no major corporate decision it is. And no political lawmaking either, of course.