Early Warnings and New Accountability: The Total Response to Global Warming, 1971-2021

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2021.102386

Commentary

Based on recent research on major fossil fuel companies, this review reports on new archival research and primary source interviews that illustrate how Total has responded to evolving climate science and policy over the past 50 years.

Total personnel indicated that by 1971 they were warned about the potential for catastrophic global warming from products, that they were more fully informed about the issue in the 1980s, and that by the late 1980s they began to foster doubts about the scientific basis for global warming, which were eventually resolved.

In the late 1990s, it seemed to be in a position to publicly embrace climate science while promoting policy delays and policies around fossil fuel management.

In addition, Exxon, through the International Petroleum Industry Environmentalists Association (IPIECA), has coordinated an international campaign to challenge climate science and undermine international climate policy since the 1980s, and was one of the first longitudinal studies of the response of major fossil fuel companies to global warming to date, recognizing It described the historical stages of preparation, denial, and delay.