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8/1/2016 Exxon Made Deep Cuts in Climate Research Budget in the 1980s | InsideCiimate News
its six-part investigative series.
"The increasing level of atmospheric C02 is causing
considerable concern due to potential climate
effects," the document said. Exxon Research &
Engineering, it noted, "has been actively conducting
research on certain aspects of the issue for
approximately two years. This report addresses the
question of whether a comprehensive research plan
with greater breadth for ER&E than the current plan
should be developed."
The answer to that question was, in short, no. The
work "if successful, will likely provide recognition for
Exxon for making important technical contributions
to this global environmental issue," according to the
document.
However, "an expanded R&D program does not
appear to offer significantly increased benefits," the
document went on. "It would require skills which are
in limited supply, and would reqQire additional
funds on the part of Exxon since Government
funding appears unlikely."
In the mid-1980s the company wrapped up
publication of a burst of modeling efforts
undertaken during the heyday of its early researchincluding
three important peer-reviewed studies, all
described in the ICN series. Those studies by
Exxon scientists and consultants, one of them
published by the federal government and two by
academic journals, confirmed the emerging
consensus regarding the planet's sensitivity to
increased concentrations of carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere.
Then Exxon's published research hit a five-year
hiatus, as shown in Exxon's own list of more than
50 peer-reviewed climate studies its employees have
worked on.
From 1986 to 1990, Exxon went without publishing
any peer-reviewed scientific research into the
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