Exxon Mobil accurately predicted global warming in the 1970s, new study shows trends now
Scientists at ExxonMobil accurately predicted future global warming as far back back to the late 70s, a new study has shown - but still waged a decades-long effort to discredit climate change research and its connection to the burning of fossil fuels.
A review of climate projections made by the oil and gas company for the years 1977 through 2003 yielded the discovery, which was published Thursday in the peer-reviewed journal Science.
The review saw researchers pour over more than 100 reports by Exxon scientists, and found that the the company had accurately anticipated warming rates to within a fraction of a degree.
The projections - which forecast temperature rises of roughly 0.20 degrees Fahrenheit for each decade - have proved remarkably accurate, and align with temperature increases seen over the course of the aforementioned time period.
ExxonMobil scientists accurately predicted future global warming as far back back to the late 70s, a new study has shown - but still waged a decades-long effort to discredit climate change research and its connection to the burning of fossil fuels
The review saw researchers pour over more than 100 reports by Exxon scientists, and found that the the company had accurately anticipated warming rates to within a fraction of a degree
According to Science, the majority of internal documents analyzed further acknowledged that humans largely contributed to global warming - despite repeated public denials from the company that asserted otherwise.
Exxon, meanwhile, has maintained that the journal has misunderstood its early research, asserting in a statement that its understanding of climate change has evolved over the years and is not so cut and dry.
Geoffrey Supran, the lead author of the Science study, has argued otherwise, saying that until now, there hasn't been an in-depth review of Exxon's own climate modeling data.
Speaking to CNN Thursday of the bombshell results, the former history of science research fellow at Harvard University called the probe 'the first-ever systematic assessment of the fossil fuel industry's climate projections.'
He added to the Associated Press: 'We've dug into not just to the language, the rhetoric in these documents, but also the data. And I'd say in that sense, our analysis really seals the deal on 'Exxon knew.''
The Exxon Mobil Baton Rouge Refinery complex in Louisiana - one of 21 across the globe and seven in the US - has been burning fossil fuels for the past five decades while knowing of the potential damage it is doing to the earth's ozone layer, authors of the study said
That phrase has become the war cry of thousands of climate activists who had accused the oil company of feigning ignorance as to the damage its 21 refineries across the globe are doing to the ozone through its decades of burning fossil fuels.
In recent year, the Texas-based company - which is the largest investor-owned oil company in the world - has become the target of numerous lawsuits from such detractors, that claim the company knew about the damage its oil and gas would cause to the climate, but misled the public by sowing doubt anyway.
Supran said he and his team analyzed more than 100 reports by Exxon scientists, before whittling them down to 12 particularly telling documents that contained the company's eerily accurate climate projections.
The academics proceeded to compare the projections to historical data, and soon found that roughly 63 percent to 83 percent of the predictions had been accurate.
The company's climate modeling - which, according to the report, were also consistent with independent academic models - showed 'shocking skill and accuracy,' Supran said Thursday.
'Exxon knew' has become the war cry of thousands of climate activists who had accused the oil company of feigning ignorance as to the damage its doing through its decades of burning fossil fuels
The study author, who started the work at Harvard and now is a environmental science professor at the University of Miami, said that the data comes as vastly different from information previously gleaned from internal documents about the oil company.
It 'gives us airtight evidence that Exxon Mobil accurately predicted global
