Morally Wrong to Pay Millions in Denial

Bolstering Case Against Exxon, New Study Confirms Vast Damage of Denial Campaign

‘The contrarian efforts have made it difficult for ordinary Americans to even know who to trust.’

From an Article by Deirdre Fulton, Common Dreams, 11/24/2015

Corporate-backed groups “consistently promoted the same contrarian themes—casting doubt, for example, on whether higher levels of man-made carbon-dioxide in the atmosphere were harmful to the planet.” (Image: Shutterstock/alphaspirit)

Corporate dollars intensify ideological polarization while sowing mistrust on the issue of climate change, with ExxonMobil and the Koch family foundations driving the phenomenon through the creation of climate disinformation think tanks and dissemination of coordinated contrarian messaging in mainstream media and public discourse.

So finds a new study, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science (PNAS) journal and based on an analysis of more than 39 million words of text produced by 164 organizations active in the coordinated campaign to deny the existence of human-caused climate change between 1993 and 2013.

Study author Justin Farrell, a Yale University sociologist, told the Washington Post that this “birds-eye view” revealed an “ecosystem of influence” within the corporate-backed groups.

Within this anti-science echo chamber, the Post reports, “[t]hose that received donations consistently promoted the same contrarian themes—casting doubt, for example, on whether higher levels of man-made carbon-dioxide in the atmosphere were harmful to the planet. There was no evidence of such coordination among the non-funded groups.”

Still, as Farrell told the Post: “The contrarian efforts…have made it difficult for ordinary Americans to even know who to trust.”

As Brendan DeMelle at the DeSmog Blog pointed out on Tuesday, the research “confirms once again the central thesis of industry-funded attacks on climate science”—a thesis that is at the heart of the escalating #ExxonKnew campaign, aimed at probing the corporation’s climate cover-up.

Not only do the study’s findings raise questions about how corporate media outlets will cover such misinformation campaigns in the future, wrote DeMelle, but the research also “provides further evidence of the public deception orchestrated by the fossil fuel industry, and should prove valuable to investigators examining ExxonMobil as well as other current and future efforts to hold polluters accountable for their PR pollution.”

Promoting Truth & Justice Around the World

Interview: Fossil Fuel Companies under Investigation for Role in Climate Change Denial

From an Interview by S. Peries, The Real News Network (TRNN), November 11, 2015

Welcome to the Real News Network. I’m Sharmini Peries coming to you from Baltimore.

On Monday, following a two-year investigation, Peabody Energy, the world’s largest publicly traded coal company, reached a settlement with the New York State Attorney General’s Office. In the settlement Peabody Energy agreed that it would end misleading statements issued to its shareholders and disclose risk arising from climate change.

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has also launched a similar investigation into ExxonMobil for misleading information released to the public, not only about climate change science and risk associated with fossil fuels but about the cost of transitioning to renewable energy.

Now joining us to discuss all of this from Stockton, New Jersey is Dan Zegart. Dan is a senior fellow at the Climate Investigation Center, and an investigative journalist, a ten-year TV and newspaper veteran.

PERIES: So Dan, let’s right off the top take a look at the New York State attorney general, Eric Schneiderman, and what he said about the Exxon case here.

ERIC SCHNEIDERMAN: There are numerous statements over the last 20 years or so that question climate change, whether it’s happening, that claim that there is no competent model for climate change. So we’re very interested in seeing what science Exxon has been using for its own purposes, because they are tremendously active in offshore oil drilling in the Arctic, for example, where global warming is happening at a much more rapid rate than in more temperate zones. Were they using the best science and the most competent models for their own purposes, but then telling the public, the regulators and shareholders, that no competent models existed?

PERIES: Dan, Peabody Energy and Exxon have been actively misinforming the public, and the attorney general here has really taken this up. And the real question to you is, does the attorney general go far enough in this settlement?

ZEGART: No, I don’t think so. I mean, I think the settlement was extremely disappointing, particularly when you consider that this investigation actually began under his predecessor, Andrew Cuomo, in 2007. Really all they’re going to do is change what they say in their annual financial statements to the Securities and Exchange Commission where they talk about risk, and what the risks might be from, let’s say, litigation or regulation. It might have to do with coal. We already know that the price of coal has plunged to historic lows. And we also know that Peabody has funded and otherwise encouraged the denial of climate science by, by a number of scientists and also through the funding of front organizations like the American Coalition on Clean Coal Energy, which is an oxymoron if there ever was one, clean coal energy.

ZEGART: As far as Exxon goes, the attorney general’s effort here is a good deal more far-reaching. He’s not only, as you mentioned, the top of the program, he’s not only looking at investor statements about the future impact of climate change, but also the overestimation by Exxon that there would be huge costs for transitioning to renewable energy, which we know is not true. And the documents and so forth that we hope will come out of the ExxonMobil probe could take us to a very different understanding of what the company, and indeed the whole industry, has been doing or not doing about climate change. … We want to see how much money they’ve spent on participating in trade associations like the American Petroleum Institute, the American Legislative Exchange Council, that are actively promoting climate denial, which is throwing sand into the gears of the entire world’s effort to do something about this life-threatening crisis.

PERIES: … coal production seems to be down, exports in terms of coal are increasing. That’s exports to China and India. … In fact, right here in Baltimore if you go down to the port you see mountains and mountains of coal being shipped out to places like India and China. What do you make of that?

ZEGART: Well, I mean, the overall pattern is of decline. I mean, you know, there are certainly exports of coal abroad, to Asia particularly, which is the only area of the world where demand is growing or, or even stable. But India has announced targets to scale back, and in particular less imported coal. They want to use more of their own coal. But they also are trying very hard to, and have announced targets, to reduce coal consumption. China the same, trying to reduce coal consumption and pledging, in fact, to President Obama just a few months ago to meet some real targets in terms of reductions.

PERIES: And leading up to Paris, now one of the things the United States will have to agree to is containing its fossil fuel consumption. Do you think that the U.S. is in any position to actually make some commitments that will stick?

ZEGART: I do. I do, and I also think that we’re going to see at COP21 a push to get the big energy companies out of the COP process, which they have had a very unfortunate influence on. And to expose some of what Attorney General Schneiderman is trying to expose in terms of what this gigantic energy company, Exxon, the influence it’s had in retarding progress on climate.

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Exxon + 49 Other Big Polluters Set to Be Investigated for Causing Extreme Weather Events

From an Article by Kumi Naido, EcoWatch.com, November 11, 2015

A few weeks ago the first ever human rights legal action seeking the accountability of the 50 big polluters was launched. Filed by Filipino typhoon survivors and several environmental organizations, it demands that the Philippines Human Rights Commission (CHR) investigate and acknowledge the complicity of 50 investor-owned fossil fuel companies in causing extreme weather events.

This comes from a consensus that the typhoons and catastrophic storms that annually batter the Philippines and many other small island nations, are exacerbated by climate change caused by the burning of fossil fuels by distant and faceless energy companies. People in the Philippines know that they are at the end of a terrible chain reaction that destroys homes, ruins health and takes lives and livelihoods. It violates their basic human rights, so they, like many others, are starting to seek climate justice.

People in the Philippines know that they are at the end of a terrible chain reaction that destroys homes, ruins health and takes lives and livelihoods.

They are part of a growing number of people that will no longer stand for companies—despite knowledge of the harms associated with their products—continuing to engorge themselves on profit at the expense of the climate and human lives. These companies are morally bound to help communities at the frontline of climate change while financing a just transition to a 100 percent renewable energy future.

Cases of negligence, like the May 2014 Soma mine disaster in Turkey, which took the lives of 311 workers and injured 80 others and litigation by communities in Peru and Ecuador against Texaco/Chevron over claims of pollution are examples of people taking a stand against how fossil fuel companies do business. The Philippines’ submission is a reflection of an understanding that fossil fuel companies are acting in violation of human rights in and of itself, no matter how carefully the company undertakes their activity. In short, we and many others are declaring: it’s not the way you do business, it’s the business itself.

This story of many fossil fuel companies is sewn together by incompetence, corruption and greed. It is a history of companies who relentlessly drive forward their business with an irresponsible outlook and lack of empathy for people and the planet. However, in the era of climate impacts and extreme weather events, the story is changing.

The top 50 investor-owned polluters under public scrutiny are taken from a list of 90 entities who, according to a report by Rick Heede, are responsible for 63 percent of the carbon dioxide and methane emitted between 1751 and 2010.

Coalitions of affected communities are developing jurisprudence that recognizes impacts of climate change as a breach of human rights. If successful, this recognition will lay the foundations for what is really required: attribution and action.

The petition was submitted on behalf of Greenpeace Southeast Asia, the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement and other local NGOs, with the support of the International Trade Union Confederation, Amnesty International, NGO legal experts and thousands of individuals.

Climate impacts like extreme weather events hit the most vulnerable first; working people and the poor. With altered seasons and rising sea levels whole communities and nations are already suffering from corporate malfeasance. People are involved in every aspect of meeting this threat, from activists campaigning for action on climate to workers in new industries to workers in fossil fuel production.

While virtually all countries continue to depend on burning fossil fuels to drive economic growth, we know this must change rapidly and dramatically. Companies must commit to leaving at least 80 percent of the fossil fuels in the ground if we want to salvage any hope of maintaining a stable climate that allows humans and all other life to survive. Companies must engage in this transformation in full consultation with workers and communities to ensure the process is just.

We encourage the Commission for Human Rights to commit to investigating the big polluters for their human rights violations as a matter of urgent action.  See also:

Climate Change Poised to Push 100 Million Into ‘Extreme Poverty’ by 2030