News & Analysis
January 18, 2024
Shell internally acknowledged the threat of climate change and potential dangers of fossil fuels in the 1970s and 80s despite the company's public climate denial, newly uncovered internal documents show. The documents, discovered by researcher Vatan Hüzeir and published by DeSmog and Follow the Money, add to the trove of evidence that Shell — like other oil giants — knowingly lied to the public about its role in the climate crisis in order to protect company profits.
“These internal admissions are valuable sources for litigators around the world seeking to hold Shell accountable for its climate deception under a variety of legal theories,” Corey Riday-White, managing attorney at the Center for Climate Integrity, said in an interview with DeSmog. “While Shell privately acknowledged the dangers of using its products as intended, the corporation publicly sowed doubt about the science and fought efforts to regulate its pollution.”
A 1985 journal article by Shell employee T.G. Wilkinson noted that the burning of fossil fuels has “upset the balance” of CO2 in the atmosphere.
“The dilemma therefore remains as to whether to encourage the continued use of fossil fuels with the potential enormous effects on the world’s climate,” Wilkinson wrote.
A 1987 internal Shell publication titled “Air Pollution: an Oil Industry Perspective” noted that “further rise in carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere could lead to a higher average surface temperature on Earth, which could have far-reaching environmental, social and economic consequences.”
Just two years after that report, Shell executive Ged Davis wrote that “Global warming could challenge the very fabric of the world’s ecological and economic systems.”
These recently unearthed documents come as Shell and other Big Oil companies face a growing number of lawsuits across the U.S. — and the world — seeking to hold them accountable for deceiving the public about their products’ central role in the climate crisis. Members of Congress cited the previous Shell revelations last year in a letter urging the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate oil giants for climate deception.
CCI and climate disinformation scholars have cited DeSmog and Follow the Money’s previous reporting on Shell in briefs supporting lawsuits against the company.
