Exxon Mobil Billings Refinery sits in Billings, Mont. Exxon Mobil’s scientists were remarkably accurate in their predictions about global warming, even as the company made public statements that contradicted its own scientists' conclusions, a new study says. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown, File)
UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Wednesday called out ExxonMobil for withholding highly accurate predictions about the impact of climate change.
“Some in Big Oil peddled the big lie," he said. "The science has been clear for decades. I’m not talking only about UN scientists, I’m talking even about fossil fuel scientists."
Guterres referred to a recent study from Science showing that Exxon predicted fossil fuel use would have “dramatic environmental effects before the year 2050" as far back as the 1970s. The study also found that Exxon's own predictive models have proven remarkably accurate.
"Our results show that in private and academic circles since the late 1970s and early 1980s, ExxonMobil predicted global warming correctly and skillfully," read the study. "Using established statistical techniques, we find that 63 to 83 percent of the climate projections reported by ExxonMobil scientists were accurate in predicting subsequent global warming."
The data builds on a story that was first revealed by investigative journalists for Inside Climate News back in 2015, which showed that Exxon executives intentionally withheld from the public in-house studies showing that continued carbon emissions would cause global warming.
The report quickly spurred a backlash against the company, with #Exxonknew circulating widely on social media platforms. Exxon has so far disputed the findings.
"#ExxonKnew is an orchestrated campaign that seeks to delegitimize ExxonMobil by misrepresenting our position on climate change and related research to the public," the company previously wrote on its website.
The UN chief, for his part, isn't buying the company's argument.
"Just like the tobacco industry, they rode roughshod over their own science," Guterres said.
The critiques of Big Oil came amid an altogether gloomy speech. Guterres said the world is in a "sorry state" and that global challenges are “piling up like cars in a chain reaction crash.”
An independent watchdog within the IRS reports that while taxpayer services have vastly improved, the agency is still too slow to resolve identity theft cases. And National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins says those delays are “unconscionable.” Erin M. Collins said in the report released Wednesday that overall the 2024 filing season went smoothly, though IRS delays in resolving identity theft victim assistance cases are worsening. It took nearly 19 months to resolve self-reported identity theft cases as of January, and Wednesday's report states that now it takes 22 months to resolve these cases.
Amazon.com Inc. surpassed $2 trillion in market value for the first time in afternoon trading on Wednesday. The push higher for Amazon’s stock market valuation comes a little more than a week after Nvidia hit $3 trillion and briefly became the most valuable company on Wall Street. Nvidia’s chips are used to power many AI application and its valuation has soared as a result. Amazon has also been making big investments in AI as global interest has grown in the technology. Most of the company’s focus has been on business-focused products.
Climate change doesn’t just mean more extreme weather – it also leads to billions of dollars in lost productivity, tourism, and stresses infrastructure.
It’s an annual tradition: the Fed’s banking ‘stress test.’ A year after the regional banking crisis, there are good reasons to make sure they’re prepped.
Summer is upon us, which means weddings, trips overseas, and trips to see Taylor Swift. Avoid a “Cruel Summer” with these budget-friendly tips and tricks.
While Nvidia's meteoric rise led it to briefly dethrone Microsoft as the world's biggest public company, there's a lot more going on in this market than A.I.
