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8/1/2016 Exxon Made Deep Cuts in Climate Research Budget in the 1980s | InsideClimate News
by john h. cushman jr.
Internal Exxon Corporation budget documents from
the 1980s show that the oil giant sharply curtailed its
ambitious program of innovative climate research in
those years, chopping well over half from its annual
budget for internal investigations into how carbon
dioxide emissions from fossil fuels would affect the
planet.
Facing a budget crunch and sensing that any
government efforts to clamp down on carbon
pollution were a long way off, Exxon terminated two
especially innovative experiments. One involved
oceanic observations during voyages of the Esso
Atlantic, a supertanker. The other proposed to test
vintage French wines for tell-tale traces of carbon
dioxide from fossil fuels or other sources,
And then, in the late 1980s, Exxon ramped up a
decades-long public relations campaign to sow
uncertainty about the increasing scientific evidence
for urgent action on climate change.
Exxon's pivoting from the cutting edge of early
climate change science to the forefront of climate
denial was described in a six-part series published
by InsideClimate News beginning in September,
based largely on primary sources including Exxon's
own internal documents. Similar findings were
reached independently by a team based at the
Columbia Journalism School in partnership with the
Los Angeles Times.
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Exxon spokesman Ken Cohen has questioned ICN's
reporting that the company "curtailed" its research
program after a few years of unusually advanced
experiments and modeling work in the 1980s.
But several documents uncovered by ICN show that
the budget cuts during the 1980s were steep and
sudden. The cuts reversed the course that the
company followed in the late 1970s, when top
company scientists warned Exxon's management for
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App. 575
https://insideclirnatenews,org/news/25112015/exxon-deep-cuts-climate-change-research-budget-1980s-global-warming 2/8