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8/1/2016 Exxon Made Deep Cuts in Climate Research Budget in the 1980s | InsideClimate News
problem, just as it was becoming a hot topic of
political debate.
In 1988,1989 and 1990, Exxon sharply escalated its
well-documented efforts to emphasize the
scientific uncertainty surrounding climate change,
a campaign of misinformation that would last for
decades.
Exxon asserts that it has been doing important
scientific research continuously since the 1970s. It
frequently mentions its financial support for work
done by programs at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology. (Exxon's support for work at Stanford
University, more costly and more geared to
developing technologies as opposed to
understanding climate change itself, began much
later.)
Announced in 1993, Exxon's first grant of$1 million
to the MIT program was expressly designed to
produce assessments "based on realistic
representations of the uncertainties of climate
science." That phrase occurred both in the press
release announcing the grant and, a year later, in
the program's first report, entitled "Uncertainty in
Climate Change Policy Analysis."
In the light of 20 years of hindsight, that 1994 MIT
report's conclusions seem vague and equivocal,
providing "no guidance for greenhouse policy."
It said "neither of the extreme positions, to take
urgent action now or do nothing awaiting firm
evidence, is a constructive response to the climate
threat."
"Uncertainty is the essence of the issue," it declared.
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