ABSTRACT
Exxon’s production of scientific expertise and its involvement in climate denialism has been at the center of recent public and legal controversies. In 2015, the non-profit news organization Inside Climate News (ICN) published the results of its eight-month investigation into the company, titled Exxon: The Road Not Taken. 2 Based on archival material, including Exxon’s own historical archives at the University of Texas at Austin, interviews with former employees, scientists, and officials, the investigation centers on Exxon’s carbon dioxide (CO2) research activity between 1977 and 1986. That same year, the Los Angeles Times, together with the Columbia University School of Journalism, conducted a distinct but similar investigation, further highlighting Exxon’s leadership in CO2 research and climate modeling in particular. 3 Both investigations prompted a social media campaign under the hashtag #Exxonknew, which snowballed into the legal world when attorney generals of various cities and counties across the country began filing lawsuits against ExxonMobil, and other oil conglomerates such as Chevron, Shell, and BP.
