A study by Harvard University, released in recent days, corroborated what has been denounced for years: the transnational oil company Exxonmobil has known since the 1970s about global warming, a phenomenon that threatens life on Earth.
By María Josefina Arce
A study by Harvard University, released in recent days, corroborated what has been denounced for years: the transnational oil company Exxonmobil has known since the 1970s about global warming, a phenomenon that threatens life on Earth.
The investigation revealed that the oil company's scientists were remarkably accurate in their predictions about the increase of the planet's temperature, but the company preferred to look the other way, so as not to affect its profits.
Exxonmobil deceived the public for decades. In its statements it doubted that warming was a real phenomenon and rejected the accuracy of climate change models, its human cause and the greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere.
Experts have stated that the oil companies were known to be aware of what they were causing, but this study shows that they had the ability to model and predict CO2 concentrations and temperatures equivalent to or greater than the best university and government research.
In fact, Exxonmobile, one of the largest oil and gas companies, has been the subject of numerous lawsuits claiming precisely that it knew the damage that its extractive activity was causing to the planet.
The multinational, along with other oil giants, was accused in U.S. congressional hearings in 2021 of disseminating erroneous information about the climate, a matter which, as was to be expected, was rejected by company executives in order to evade any responsibility.
Researchers, quoted by the Los Angeles Times, have pointed out that many lives have been lost or negatively affected by the transnational's deliberate disinformation campaign.
The irresponsible stance of Exxonmobil, described as one of the most influential corporations that is holding back environmental policy, is not surprising.
The truth is, as many point out, that Exxonmobile was already aware of the danger looming over the Earth long before the IPCC, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, was set up at the end of the 1980s and the Kyoto Protocol was approved in 1997 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The United Nations has stated that companies operating in the global economy routinely abuse the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment and other human rights.
On countless occasions, the damage to the environment and human health caused by transnational corporations, which pollute water, air and land with impunity, has been denounced.
And while greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase, according to the Panel of Experts. A situation that endangers the lives of all.
