Newly released documents in a Massachusetts lawsuit against ExxonMobil reveal that the company internally acknowledged the risks of climate change decades ago while publicly promoting solutions that its own scientists knew were ineffective or misleading. The documents, part of the state's 2019 climate deception case, include internal memos, presentations, and testimony from Exxon scientists spanning from the late 1980s to the 2010s. They show a pattern where Exxon's private assessments of climate risks and the feasibility of technologies like algae biofuels and carbon capture contradicted its public statements, which often presented these efforts as substantive action to address global warming.
This photo shows Exxon scientists conducting internal research on carbon dioxide emissions, consistent with documents revealing early climate knowledge.
One of the most significant documents is a 1988 internal memo from Frank Sprow of Exxon's corporate research department, written just weeks before the UN established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In the memo, Sprow warned colleagues that 'If a worldwide consensus emerges that action is needed to mitigate against Greenhouse gas effects, substantial negative impacts on Exxon could occur.' This internal acknowledgment came five months after NASA climatologist James Hansen's congressional testimony about global warming. Sprow outlined a strategy for Exxon to protect its fossil fuel resources and business options by supporting climate research at institutions like Princeton, monitoring alternative energy technologies, and seeking research breakthroughs aligned with the company's interests, later telling The Wall Street Journal that this memo was adopted as corporate policy.
The documents also expose specific instances where Exxon's internal knowledge contradicted public claims about climate solutions. Regarding the company's algae biofuels program, a scientist who worked on the project testified that a 2018 press release promising '10,000 barrels of algae biofuel per day could be produced by 2025' was misleading, stating 'All the clauses in there are patently false' and that the target was 'completely impossible to achieve.' Similarly, internal presentations revealed skepticism about carbon capture and storage technology, with one scientist noting in 2017 that Exxon's CCS operations were largely restricted to gas processing plants and 'has nothing to do' with the type of carbon capture the company promoted for power plants. Despite this internal doubt, Exxon continued to promote both algae biofuels and carbon capture as viable climate solutions in public communications.
Image depicts a carbon capture plant similar to the technology Exxon publicly advocated while internally questioning its effectiveness for power plants.