Dutch Blog Finds Shell Knew In 1988

Shell Grappled with Climate Change 20 Years Ago, Documents Show; Company scientists foresaw a storm like Sandy, as well as climate lawsuits

Scott Waldman, April 5, 2018 (E&E News via Scientific American)

“…In 1998, [Shell Oil researchers wrote an internal memo about future scenarios that could harm their business and] envisioned a violent storm ripping through the East Coast with such force that it would transform young people into climate activists, spark lawsuits and cause government leaders to turn on fossil fuel companies…[Superstorm Sandy] devastated the East Coast in 2012, killing at least 147 people and causing more than $70 billion in economic damages. The storm hit particularly hard in New York City, inspiring Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) to undertake aggressive climate policies. Other states followed. Earlier this year, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio sued Shell and four other major oil companies as a way to make them ‘take full responsibility for the devastation they have wrought’ for contributing to climate change…The revelations about Shell’s internal deliberations on climate change were contained in a series of Shell documents obtained by [Dutch investigative reporters at] De Correspondent…The documents show that Shell was unwilling to position itself to address the risks it was grappling with internally and instead chose to embrace uncertainty in science…” click here for more

click to enlarge

Tweet