ExxonMobil issued its first public statement that burning fossil fuels contributes to climate change in 2006. Also, In public forums, the company argued that the risk of serious impact on the environment justified global action.
But, as The Wall Street Journal reports in a new investigation, behind closed doors, ExxonMobil took a very different tack: Its executives strategized over how to diminish concerns about warming temperatures, and they sought to muddle scientific findings that might hurt its oil and gas business, according to internal ExxonMobil documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal and interviews with former executives.
The oil giant is now a defendant in dozens of lawsuits around the U.S. that accuse it and other oil companies of deception over climate change and that aim to collect billions of dollars in damages. Read the full story.
