#ShellKnew

About the Series

Big oil company Shell knew climate change was going to be big, was going to be bad, and that its products were responsible for global warming all the way back in the 1980s, a tranche of new documents reveal.

Documents unearthed by Jelmer Mommers of De Correspondent, published on Climate Files, a project of the Climate Investigations Center, show intense interest in climate change internally at Shell.

A “CONFIDENTIAL” 1988 document titled, “The Greenhouse Effect”, details Shell’s extensive knowledge of climate change impacts and implications. It also reveals an internal Shell climate science program dating back to 1981, well before the UNIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was founded.

Royal Dutch Shell is jointly registered in the UK and the Netherlands. It is currently facing court action unless it brings its business model in-line with the Paris Agreement’s two degrees goal.

In This Series

The Bolloré family’s business empire — which includes Havas, one of the world’s biggest ad agencies — has longtime ties to the fossil fuel industry.

The Bolloré family’s business empire — which includes Havas, one of the world’s biggest ad agencies — has longtime ties to the fossil fuel industry.
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Latest documents unearthed by Dutch climate activist seen as “valuable sources” for litigators.

Latest documents unearthed by Dutch climate activist seen as “valuable sources” for litigators.
Series: #ShellKnew
Series: #ShellKnew
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Newly discovered documents from the 1970s and early ’80s show that Shell knew more about the "greenhouse effect" than it let on in public.

Newly discovered documents from the 1970s and early ’80s show that Shell knew more about the "greenhouse effect" than it let on in public.
Series: #ShellKnew
Series: #ShellKnew
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It took oil company Shell more than 16 years to directly warn its shareholders that climate policy posed a financial risk to the company's business model despite knowing — in private and for decade...
Series: #ShellKnew
Series: #ShellKnew
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Shell, one of the world’s largest oil companies, has gained privileged access to the UN climate change negotiations while pushing the same unworkable solutions for almost 20 years, internal company...
Series: #ShellKnew
Series: #ShellKnew
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Thirty years ago, oil company Shell was warned in private that its own products were responsible for climate change which in turn could lead to large scale climate migration. Yet over the followi...
Series: #ShellKnew
Series: #ShellKnew
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There can be no mistake: as early as 1981, big oil company Shell was aware of the causes and dangers of climate change. These documents show Shell walking backwards. In the 1980s it was acknowledg...
Series: #ShellKnew
Series: #ShellKnew
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Shell knew about the relationship between burning fossil fuels and climate change as early as the 1980s. So what did the company decide to do about it? Stop burning fossil fuels? No. It changed it...
Series: #ShellKnew
Series: #ShellKnew
on

Shell knew climate change was going to be big, was going to be bad, and that its products were responsible for global warming all the way back in the 1980s, a tranche of new documents reveal. Docu...
Series: #ShellKnew
Series: #ShellKnew
on

By the Climate Investigations Center Newly unearthed internal documents from Shell Oil Company provide new insights into what they knew about climate change and when they knew it. Documents unear...
Series: #ShellKnew
Series: #ShellKnew