Both findings are relevant to ongoing investigations by state and federal attorneys general, along with the Securities and Exchange Commission, on whether the company deceived investors on how it accounts for climate change risk. “Using social science methods, we found a gaping, systematic discrepancy between what Exxon said about climate change in private and academic circles, and what is said to the public.”As early as 1979, when climate change barely registered as an issue for the public, Exxon was sounding internal alarms. A peer-reviewed study by Exxon scientists 17 years later concluded that “the body of evidence... now points towards a discernable human influence on global climate”. Natasha Lamb, managing partner of investment management firm Arjuna Capital, said the new analysis could bolster the lawsuits accusing ExxonMobil of deliberately downplaying climate change risks. Those efforts were swatted down, but four years later a decisive 62% of shareholders called on ExxonMobil, in a non-binding vote last May, to detail how climate change will affect its future.

Source: The Guardian August 24, 2017 02:03 UTC