The History of Climate change

 

The History Of Climate Change 

The Good the Bad and the Ugly

This is a timeline set around climate change from the views of the outside world and from the inside oil companies. Data is from Britannica and Greenpeace, sources linked below.

1896 - Svante Arrhenius constructed the first climate change model on the influence of atmospheric Carbon Dioxide 

1920-25 -  The era of large-scale petroleum development begins with the opening of Texas and Persian Gulf Oil fields 

1930 - Milutin Milankovitch publish "Mathematical Cliamatology and the astronomical theory of climate changes" to explain the causes of the earths ice ages.

1957 - Rodger Revelle and Hans E Suess write that "human beings are now carrying out a large scale geophysical experiment" in a paper examining C02 uptake by the oceans.

1973 - First oil shock 

1974 - First evidence of chlorine chemicals being involved in ozone depletion is published.

1979 - Second oil shock 

1979 - Major fossil fuels companies begin to meet regularly as part of a Taskforce to discuss the science and implications of climate change 

1982 - Roger Cohen (Director of the theoretical and Mathematical Sciences Laboratory at Exxon wrote a memo stating that "Temperature increase of this magnitude would bring about significant changes in the earths climate, including rainfall distribution and alterations in the biosphere". Roger Cohen would later become a lead climate science denier at an Exxon funded group.

1983 - Exxon cut funding for climate research from $900,000 per year to just $150,000. Exxon switched from the leading researchers in early climate change to the head of denying climate change.

1992 - UN conference in Rio de Janerio creates the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

1996 - Mobil engineers noted that "An estimated rise in water level, due to global warming, of 0.5 meters may be assumed" in their planning for exploration and production facilities along the coast of Nova Scotia.

1997 - Kyoto Protocol is created with the intent to limit greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from industrialised countries. The USA does not sign onto the protocol

1998 - American Petroleum Institute organised a $5-million plan to challenge the science of climate change

2001 - Third IPCC report notes that warming resulting from GHG emissions has become very likely

2001 - George W. Bush became president with $100,000 in inaugural funding from ExxonMobil. Shortly after The US withdraws from the Kyoto Protocol

2002 - Greenpeace USA launched a campaign to expose Exxons climate denial programme. 

2003 - The Greenpeace Global Warming Crimes Unit converged on ExxonMobil's compound in Irving, Texas, to charge them with crimes against the climate.

2004 - Greenpeace USA developed a website that showed the links between Exxon money and climate deniers called : exxonsecrets.org

2005 - Kyoto protocol goes into effect. All major industrialised countries sign on except USA

2005 - Environmental and public interest groups launched the "Exxpose Exxon" campaign

2006 - China becomes the worlds largest GHG emitter

2007 - Fourth IPCC report notes that effects of global warming are occurring 

2008 - Exxon announced it will stop funding climate-denying groups 

2011 - Canada withdraws from the Kyoto Protocol

2015 - Paris agreement (which replaces Kyoto Protocol) is adopted by 200 countries including the USA

2017 - USA drops out of Paris agreement 

2021 - USA joins Paris agreement

                                                                            

Sources

https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/ending-the-climate-crisis/exxon-and-the-oil-industry-knew-about-climate-change/infographic-exxons-long-history-of-climate-change-denial/

https://www.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/climate-change-throughout-history