January 29, 1980 memo from Exxon’s Walt Eckelmann to Morey O’Loughlin on Exxon Science and Technology Department’s view and position on greenhouse effect. The memo is in response to O’Loughlin’s inquiry. Eckelmann writes that the Exxon Science and Technology Department views the build-up of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is a “potentially serious problem requiring the results of a huge world-wide research effort.”

The memo also details ongoing research efforts, including Exxon Research and Engineering Company’s $600,000 per year research program to help determlne whether the primary cause of atmospheric CO2 buildup is from fossil fuels or from forest clearing; and to estimate the net global CO2 flux into the oceans. The memo also mentions Exxon funding to the Marine Biological Lab at Woods Hole and the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment. The funding for these organizations is to study the CO2 effect from fossil fuel emissions and global climate change.

The 1980 memo also includes a 1979 letter from Edward David Jr., president of the Exxon Research and Engineering Company, to George T. Piercy, Senior Vice President of Exxon Corporation. This letter discusses the research of fossil fuels and forest clearing.