SMOKE AND FUMES

The report synthesizes documentary evidence to show that major oil and gas companies were aware of the climate risks associated with their products as early as the 1950s. It argues that these companies had the capacity to foresee harms and the opportunity to mitigate them through technology and public warnings, but instead engaged in coordinated campaigns to sow scientific doubt. The document links this conduct to legal frameworks of responsibility in tort and human rights law, noting that attribution science now allows for the quantification of specific corporate contributions to global climate impacts.

• The oil industry was on notice of potential climate risks by 1957, with at least one major company—a subsidiary of Standard Oil of New Jersey (now ExxonMobil)—aware that fossil fuel combustion byproducts were accumulating in the atmosphere.
• By 1958, the petroleum industry collectively investigated atmospheric carbon through the American Petroleum Institute's (API) Smoke and Fumes Committee, which combined research with public relations to discourage pollution regulations.
• In 1968 and 1969, reports from the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) commissioned by API warned that fossil fuel combustion was the best explanation for rising CO2 and that significant temperature changes were almost certain by the year 2000.
• Between 1977 and 1982, Exxon scientists repeatedly confirmed the scientific consensus on climate change to management, predicting that a doubling of CO2 would increase global average temperatures by approximately 3 degrees Celsius.
• Major oil companies incorporated climate change projections into their own operational planning as early as the 1970s and 1980s, such as Shell redesigning a North Sea platform in 1989 to account for rising sea levels.
• Despite internal knowledge, the industry launched massive public relations campaigns in the 1990s and 2000s to promote scientific uncertainty, exemplified by API's 1998 'Global Climate Science Communications Plan'.
• The oil industry held patents for technologies that could have mitigated climate change, including carbon dioxide removal from waste streams, fuel cells, and solar panels, but often prioritized profits over deployment.
• Climate denial was a transnational phenomenon; European companies like BP and Royal Dutch Shell participated in US denial efforts and funded think tanks in Europe to promote skepticism.
• Recent advances in attribution science now enable the identification of 'Carbon Majors'—90 companies responsible for nearly two-thirds of historical emissions—and the tracing of their specific contributions to climate-related disasters.

APA

Center for International Environmental Law (2017). SMOKE AND FUMES. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Smoke-Fumes.pdf

Chicago

Center for International Environmental Law. SMOKE AND FUMES. 2017. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Smoke-Fumes.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Center for International Environmental Law |title=SMOKE AND FUMES |date=November 2017 |url=https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Smoke-Fumes.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{centerforinternationalenvironmentallaw2017smoke, author = {{Center for International Environmental Law}}, title = {{SMOKE AND FUMES}}, institution = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2017}, month = nov, url = {https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Smoke-Fumes.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }