Big Oil Knew, Big Oil Lied: Fossil Fuel’s Long Strategy Of Deceit

In recent decades, increases in extreme weather have laid bare the mounting risk created by climate change, prompting banks, insurers, and corporations to reckon with their own exposure. However, despite growing awareness of the issue, political discourse has become increasingly polarized, with climate change often sidelined or deliberately ignored.

Decades of Deceit: A Report from the Union of Concerned Scientists

The Union of Concerned Scientists' (UCS) new report, Decades of Deceit, explores how this disconnect has been manufactured through decades of fossil fuel industry disinformation and obstruction. The report presents evidence that fossil fuel companies such as BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, and Shell not only understood the risks of climate change as far back as the 1950s but worked to suppress that knowledge, mislead the public, and shape policy to preserve their profits.

The report highlights the immense influence of just 36 fossil fuel companies, who are responsible for over half of the world's emissions. "What we see in the fossil fuel companies' internal documents is striking," said Dr. Delta Merner, lead scientist for the Science Hub for Climate Litigation at UCS. "As early as the 1970s and 1980s, companies like Exxon and Shell made internal models projecting temperature increases and sea level rise that matched what has actually happened... But instead of sounding the alarm or shifting business strategies, these companies cast doubt on the science, exaggerated uncertainty, and funded front groups to spread disinformation."

Emotions Are Still Rising—And So Is Industry Influence

A recent analysis of emissions data from the Carbon Majors database reveals that 93 companies, including 50 investor-owned firms, increased their emissions in 2024. State-owned enterprises were the dominant polluters, accounting for 52% of global emissions, while Chinese companies led national contributions with 23%. Cement producers showed the most significant relative emissions increases, underscoring the need for industrial decarbonization.

The Four Seasons Dethroned: The Impact of Climate Denial

'The Four Seasons' Dethroned In Netflix's Top 10 List By An Exceptional Show ‘NYT Mini’ Clues And Answers For Thursday, May 15 Windows Is Under Attack, Microsoft Confirms — Act Now, CISA Warns

There’s No Doubt: Disinformation and Delay Are Strategies to Protect Entrenched Wealth and Power

The report documents in-depth how deep fossil fuel influence runs. In 2023, Chevron funded a group that lobbied against a proposed windfall tax in California under the guise of protecting consumers. Mulvey explains that corporations publicly declare support for climate goals while privately working to obstruct them.

Allegations Linking ExxonMobil to Hacking Schemes Underline Industry's Recognition of Threats

Mulvey, who previously worked on tobacco litigation added, "From firsthand experience, it’s easy to see remarkable parallels between the tobacco and fossil fuel industries’ disinformation playbooks." Beyond legal or environmental harm, the UCS report emphasizes that this is a matter of public trust and democratic integrity.

Democracies Depend on Informed Citizens: Fossil Fuel Companies Prevent Public from Making Decisions

"When companies suppress or distort climate science, they are putting people in harm’s way," said Merner. “Scientific findings about climate risks are essential for informing emergency planning, public health systems, infrastructure design, and more.” "Democracies depend on informed citizens to make decisions,” added Peterson. By withholding or distorting information about climate change and its costs, fossil fuel companies prevent the public from being able to make decisions about their future and hold bad actors accountable.

The Real Issue: What Governments, Institutions, and Citizens Are Willing to Do in Response

The question now is not whether harm has been done. The real issue is what governments, institutions, and citizens are willing to do in response. As Mulvey puts it: "Policymakers must stop letting fossil fuel companies write the rules."