Conceptual background:
Text by Felicity Lawrence, David Pegg and Rob Evans. Oct 10, 2019. The Guardian.
In 1998 a public relations consultant called Joe Walker wrote to the American Petroleum Institute (API), a trade association representing major fossil fuel companies, with a proposed solution to a big problem.
In December the previous year, the UN had adopted the Kyoto protocol, an international treaty that committed signatory countries to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions in order to avert catastrophic climate breakdown.
Reducing emissions represented a direct threat to the profits of fossil fuel companies and the API was working on an industry response. The fossil fuel industry had been making use of its lobbying group, the Global Climate Coalition, since 1989 to stress the uncertainties of climate science. A series of strategic goals was elaborated. Written in API slogan: “Project goal: a majority of the American public, including industry leadership, recognizes that significant uncertainties exist in climate science.” “Victory would be achieved if those promoting the Kyoto treaty on the basis of extant science appear to be out of touch with reality”.
In 2010 the American sociologists Riley Dunlap and Aaron McCright identified conservative think tanks, along with US conservative politicians, media and fossil fuel corporations, as crucial components in a “denial machine” that emerged in the 1990s. The activity of this machine would peak when the industry’s financial interests came under threat, most notably in the years after 2007 and the election of Barack Obama, who had pledged to regulate and cap emissions.
In December the previous year, the UN had adopted the Kyoto protocol, an international treaty that committed signatory countries to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions in order to avert catastrophic climate breakdown.
Reducing emissions represented a direct threat to the profits of fossil fuel companies and the API was working on an industry response. The fossil fuel industry had been making use of its lobbying group, the Global Climate Coalition, since 1989 to stress the uncertainties of climate science. A series of strategic goals was elaborated. Written in API slogan: “Project goal: a majority of the American public, including industry leadership, recognizes that significant uncertainties exist in climate science.” “Victory would be achieved if those promoting the Kyoto treaty on the basis of extant science appear to be out of touch with reality”.
In 2010 the American sociologists Riley Dunlap and Aaron McCright identified conservative think tanks, along with US conservative politicians, media and fossil fuel corporations, as crucial components in a “denial machine” that emerged in the 1990s. The activity of this machine would peak when the industry’s financial interests came under threat, most notably in the years after 2007 and the election of Barack Obama, who had pledged to regulate and cap emissions.