The Royal Society chastises Exxon

If you wonder why recognition of the seriousness of global warming still hasn't sunk in despite near universal scientific agreement that it's happening and we are responsible, yet another reason emerges. It turns out that ExxonMobil, the world's largest oil and gas company, has been spending millions of dollars funding dozens of lobby groups that misrepresent the science of climate change. We have this on the impeccable authority of the Royal Society, Great Britain's premier scientific academy.

The Society is sufficiently concerned that it has taken the unprecedented step of writing a letter to Esso UK, challenging the corporation's behaviour. The letter accuses the lobby groups of seriously misrepresenting the science of climate change and accuses Exxon itself of providing inaccurate and misleading information in the company's own documents.

Misleading information from a corporation is hardly news. But we are talking about the future of the entire planet here, and that no doubt is why the Society has for the first time in its history written to a company challenging its conduct. Let us hope this upbraiding from the elite of British science will spark enough decency in Exxon's management to make honest men and women out of them, at least on this, the most important issue facing our species.