The fossil industry has known about the potential impact of carbon dioxide on climate since 1954.
They knew it. And much earlier than expected. Air Pollution FoundationA coalition of US automobile and oil companies funded a study in 1954, during which the influence of carbon dioxide (CO2) on climate and life has been recognizedand what will be the basis of current daily CO measurements2 the most famous atmospheric aircraft in the world.
This information came to light this Wednesday following an investigation carried out by Rebecca Johnresearcher at the Center for Climate Research, published in DeSmog –media with which you collaborate Climate–.
This story begins in the fifties. In 1953, the Southern California Air Pollution Fund was founded to combat smog (fog typical of large cities and resulting from pollution from automobiles and industry) in Los Angeles. Giants American Motors, Chrysler, Ford and General Motors were among the 18 auto companies that contributed money to the fund.
To learn more about this problem, the Air Pollution Foundation authorized a study on the subject in 1954. The person responsible for its implementation (from January 1955 to June 1956) was one of the greatest leaders of climatology: Charles David Keelingcreator of the famous “Keeling curve”, a graph that appeared shortly after this study showing year-over-year increases in CO concentrations.2 in the atmosphere. The foundation donated $13,814 (about $158,000 today) for work done by the then-young researcher at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).
Keeling passed away in 2005, but his world-famous curveball continues to work thanks to his son, Ralph Keeling. Currently CO levels2 Atmospheric pressure is 422 parts per million, nearly a third higher than the first reading taken in 1958 by Charles Keeling (when he began his measurements at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii) and 50% higher than normal pre-industrial levels.
Before the Air Pollution Foundation authorized Keeling’s study (which included measuring background carbon dioxide levels throughout the western United States), its research director Samuel Epstein, spoke to the coalition in detail about the potential impacts of man-made carbon dioxide emissions. As Epstein told them in a letter, “the possible consequences of changes in CO2 in the atmosphere in relation to climate… may ultimately prove to be quite important for civilization.“
The expert emphasized that potential impact of burning “coal and oil” on the Earth’s climate as well as the need to identify “changes in the atmosphere.” Until this point, the expert was aware of the dangers of CO.2 on the climate, but the contribution of fossil fuel emissions to the atmosphere has not yet been tested in practice. As study author Rebecca John explains: Climate“We don’t know all the details of the Air Pollution Foundation’s response to this information, but we do know that it went ahead and sponsored Epstein’s proposed research.” And so it was: knowing this, the foundation greenlit Keeling’s field work, which, although its main goal was to learn more about smog, led to the first conclusions about global warming.
Rebekah John finds it “surprising” that Epstein, “the laboratory scientist who used new isotope techniques (carbon dating) to calculate the oldest experimental age of the Earth (4.6 billion years), also told the industry that could use the same methods to calculate the amount of CO2 produced by fossil fuels which is released into the atmosphere. And this CO2 could potentially affect the climate with serious consequences for civilization. In 1954. I find it incredible,” he admits Climate. Likewise, he highlights the findings paper that Keeling presented in 1956: “It is amazing to see how careful he was in measuring CO.2 using a revolutionary sampling technique that he himself developed.
John’s work, published in DeSmog magazine thanks to documents from the archives of the California Institute of Technology, the US National Archives, UC San Diego newspapers and Los Angeles newspapers of the 1950s, represents what might have become first time the fossil fuel industry has been warned of the potentially dire consequences of its business model.
“These new documents show that The fossil fuel industry has been linked to climate science since its inception.” says Rebecca John. In her opinion, this research reflects “a much closer connection between science and industry than the fossil fuel industry has so far recognized.”
However, these findings did not deter decades later several members and sponsors of the Air Pollution Foundation – among them the American Petroleum Institute (API), the main US lobbying group for the oil and gas sector, the Association of Automobile Manufacturers, Chevron; and BP, among others, will conduct multi-million dollar campaign against climate policies aimed at combating global warming and contributed to the denial of science, which they themselves began to finance.
From the last century to today, major oil and fossil fuel companies tried to undermine any discoveries in climate science. Also have struggled to delay any attempt to address climate change realizing that this policy represents a direct attack on their interests.
“The fact that the fossil fuel industry funded Keeling’s early work (the germ of modern climate science) Today this sounds completely ludicrous, given his subsequent policy of denial. and their smear campaigns against scientists who contributed to this science in subsequent decades,” says the researcher.
These new results provide further evidence of how The fossil industry has been aware of the consequences caused by its activities for decades.. An investigation published eight years ago in the media InsideClimate News Completed last year by two researchers, it showed how oil company Exxon had known “with precision” how global warming would affect the planet since the 1970s.
“Understanding our past is key to transforming our collective future”concludes Rebecca John, discussing the possible impact of her research on current climate action.
All documents and full history are available on the DeSmog website. Click here to read (in English).