Exxon och andra oljebolag har blivit stämda för förledande kampanjer mot klimatförändringarna. De har satsat stora pengar i aggressiva kampanjer för att dölja fakta, fakta som deras egna forskare tidigt kom fram till. De vet att de inte kan vinna en debatt om fakta, därför har de istället satsat på att utså tvivel. Och det har räckt för att bromsa klimatåtgärderna i flera decennier.
Väl medvetna om att de inte bör avslöja sina vinstintressen i frågan, har de anlitat och betalat forskare som kritiserar klimatforskningen.
Många har studerat fossilindustrins försåtliga agerande och hittat interna dokument som visar att ledarna för industrin var väl medvetna om riskerna med ökande CO2-halt, men istället valde man att förneka dessa fakta. Sådana dokument blir viktiga i kommande rättsprocesser.
Det finns en tydlig parallell till tobaksindustrins kampanj mot forskningen som visade att rökning var farligt. Tobaksindustrin förlorade till slut, men de etablerade en taktik att sprida misstro mot forskning och vetenskap som har fått allvarliga konsekvenser på många områden.
How the oil industry made us doubt climate change
Citat:
In June 2020, the General Attorney of Minnesota Keith Ellison sued ExxonMobil, the American Petroleum Institute (API) and Koch Industries for misleading the public over climate change. The lawsuit claims that "previously unknown internal documents confirm that the defendant well understood the devastating effects that their products would cause to the climate".
It says that despite this knowledge, the industry "engaged in a public-relations campaign that was not only false, but also highly effective," which served to "deliberately [undermine] the science" of climate change.
Citat:
To achieve victory, the industry planned to "identify, recruit and train a team of five independent scientists to participate in media outreach".
…
Most of the organisations opposing or denying climate change science were right-wing think tanks, who tended to be passionately anti-regulation.
These groups made convenient allies for the oil industry, as they would argue against action on climate change on ideological grounds.
Hur tobaksindustrins spridning av tvivel blev modell:
Citat:
As a later document by tobacco company Brown and Williamson summarised the approach: "Doubt is our product, since it is the best means of competing with the 'body of fact' that exists in the minds of the general public."
Naomi Oreskes says this understanding of the power of doubt is vital.
"They realise they can't win this battle by making a false claim that sooner or later would be exposed. But if they can create doubt, that would be sufficient - because if people are confused about the issue, there's a good chance they'll just keep smoking."
Citat:
Judge Kessler detailed how the industry "marketed and sold their lethal products with zeal, with deception, with a single-minded focus on their financial success, and without regard for the human tragedy or social costs".
The tobacco companies may have eventually lost their battle to hide the harms of smoking, but the blueprint drawn up by John Hill and his colleagues proved to be very effective.
"What he wrote is the same memo we have seen in multiple industries subsequently," says David Michaels, author of The Triumph of Doubt, which details how the pesticides, plastics and sugar industries have also used these tactics.
"We called it 'the tobacco playbook', because the tobacco industry was so successful.
Citat:
But academics like David Michaels fear the use of uncertainty in the past to confuse the public and undermine science has contributed to a dangerous erosion of trust in facts and experts across the globe today, far beyond climate science or the dangers of tobacco.
https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-53640382
Att utså tvivel har alltså blivit ett mäktigt redskap i händerna på de som kan betala. Och vi ser vilka konsekvenser det redan har fått, miljoner döda i rökning, omfattande miljöproblem och miljoner drabbade av klimatkatastrofer.
Jag hoppas att fossilbolagen får betala massiva skadestånd, det är det minsta man kan begära.
