DeSmog Investigation – Archival Documents Reveal Oil Companies Funded Climate Science in 1954 – Were Told 70 Years Ago That CO2 Emissions Could Impact “Civilization”

These documents were uncovered by Rebecca John as part of her investigation into the oil and gas industry’s early knowledge of climate science and its response to this knowledge. Reported with links to documents via DeSmog on January 30, 2024 and November 12, 2024 New Evidence Reveals Fossil Fuel Industry Sponsored Climate Science in 1954 […]

Weather Denial Documents

Below is an annotated collection of documents gathered through the years amassing evidence of corporate efforts to deny the connection between climate change and extreme weather events.   There are two major blocks of evidence: They knew climate change would cause extreme weather: Corporate entities “knew” extreme weather would be an impact of anthropogenic climate change. […]

New Shell Oil Documents: “Dirty Pearls” Investigation 2023-24

A new collection on ClimateFiles of old Shell documents around climate change is published below. These documents were uncovered during five years of research by Vatan Hüzeir of Changerism, while a PhD candidate at Erasmus University Rotterdam, as part of his investigation entitled, Dirty pearls: exposing Shell’s hidden legacy of climate change accountability, 1970-1990. New […]

“Assessing ExxonMobil’s global warming projections” Science, January 2023, Supran, Rahmstorf, Oreskes REFERENCE DOCUMENTS

Below are the Exxon internal documents that were footnoted in the paper “Assessing ExxonMobil’s global warming projections” (G. Supran et al., Science 379, eabk0063 (2023). DOI: 10.1126/science.abk0063) published January 2023. Coverage of the paper was wide: New York Times, Guardian, Associated Press, Politico, LA Times, NPR, CNN, CNBC… Exxon Internal Document References in the paper […]

Introduction to the Imperial Oil Archival Document Collection

This collection of documents was gleaned from the Glenbow Museum’s Imperial Oil Archive, over the past several years. The original documents are now housed at the University of Calgary. This is the most comprehensive collection of these documents published on the internet to date and were collected by researchers at DeSmog. Search the entire collection […]

Mining Congress Journal, August 1966 – Air Pollution and the Coal Industry

This is an August 1966 article titled “Air Pollution and the Coal Industry” in the Mining Congress Journal, by James Garvey, then President of Bitumous Coal Research Inc. Garvey’s company developed pollution control equipment. He outlines the growing push to regulate pollution from coal fired power plants. The abstract reads: “Growing demands for cleaner air […]

Global Climate Coalition Dobrianksy

2001 State Department Briefing for Global Climate Coalition Meeting

The briefing was sent to Paula Dobriansky, who in 2001 was the Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs. She was also the head of delegation and the lead negotiator on US climate change policy[NN1]. The document was authored by then Acting Assistant Secretary for The Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs […]

1997 GCC Coordinating Spokespeople Against Kyoto

This November 1997 memo to the Global Climate Coalition’s (GCC) “Coordinating Council Participants and State Leaders” was sent by former lobbyist Susan Moya regarding coordination of an astroturf campaign. The industry-funded GCC opposed greenhouse gas regulations through direct engagement and collaboration with affiliated climate deniers from 1989 to 2002. Its membership spanned across the automotive, […]

1996 GCC “The IPCC: Institutionalized ‘Scientific Cleansing'” Memo, Corresponding Media and Open Letters

These documents reflect the Global Climate Coalition’s (GCC) aggressive attack on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) process – targeting Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Dr. Ben Santer through a coordinated communications and media campaign. These documents were provided by Dr. Santer. The industry-funded GCC opposed greenhouse gas regulations through direct engagement and collaboration with […]

1996 Global Climate Coalition Science and Technology April Minutes and Membership

These documents reflect meeting minutes and work product of the industry-led Global Climate Coalition’s (GCC) Science and Technology Assessment Committee (STAC). The GCC opposed greenhouse gas regulations through direct engagement and collaboration with affiliated climate deniers from 1989 to 2002. Its membership spanned across the automotive, utility, manufacturing, petroleum, and mining industries. These documents demonstrate […]

1995 GCC “Climate Change: Your Passport to the Facts”

From the private collection of Nicky Sundt, a Washington-based climate change science, policy and communications expert, this document is a passport sized booklet published and distributed by the Global Climate Coalition titled, “Climate Change: Your Passport To The Facts.” The GCC was an industry-funded organization that opposed greenhouse gas regulations through direct engagement and collaboration […]

Mobil and ExxonMobil Advertorial Op-Ads 1972-2006

This collection is not yet the complete set of all the paid ads (aka Advertorials) that Mobil then ExxonMobil placed virtually every week for decades on the New York Times and Washington Post editorial pages, but this folder contains over 100 examples of environmental and specifically climate oriented ads. https://embed.documentcloud.org/projects/exxon-and-mobil-ads-9134/?embed=1

New North Sea Documents: Oil industry research into enhanced oil recovery 2003-2023

A new collection on Climate Files of industry and government reports examining the potential for using the UK’s planned carbon capture projects to pump more North Sea oil and gas via a process known as enhanced oil recovery is published below. These documents were assembled by energy journalist Michael Buchsbaum while working on a project […]

Brulle paper references: Advocating Inaction, Environmental Politics, April 2022

A new paper by Robert Brulle in the journal Environmental Politics introduces several new documents to the ClimateFiles GCC collection, including important internal documents from the Global Climate Coalition and National Association of Manufacturers. Link to the full paper: Advocating inaction: a historical analysis of the Global Climate Coalition ABSTRACT Ever since climate change became […]

1994 Fred Singer Proposal to the GCC

This document was buried in our files and surfaced after we published the Global Climate Coalition archives in 2019. The BBC Radio series “How They Made Us Doubt Everything” brings it to light in Episode 5.