Exxon Scientists Knew Fossil Fuels Caused Climate Change Back in 1977
September 21, 2015
It’s a story reminiscent of the way Big Tobacco covered up the deadly effects of smoking. In the 1980s, Exxon spent millions of dollars on groundbreaking research which irrefutably showed how their products would change the climate. And then they buried it all.
Inside Climate News unearthed a series of studies commissioned by Exxon that show just how much they knew about the harm of burning fossil fuels almost 40 years ago, long before this type of research was being done.
In 1977, climate scientist James F. Black made this statement to Exxon execs:
“In the first place, there is general scientific agreement that the most likely manner in which mankind is influencing the global climate is through carbon dioxide release from the burning of fossil fuels”