Looks like its a just a few years ago, a maritime forest stood here in the us state of South Carolina. Salt water has killed the trees. Queen quit, shes known as the elected leader of the cruise. I get the people, an African American community in the coastal south east. Theyve lived on this land for centuries. The you need only get to the shore line anywhere here to see how climate impacts on. We have seen the sea levels rising, we have experience more intense, hurricanes and weve ever experienced that my entire life. And so for years we were saying to people, to politicians, come look at whats happening, there is something wrong. Rapidly rising sea levels are one of the most visible consequences of global one. The gas and Oil Companies have known for more than 40 years that fossil fuels are linked to Climate Change, the but they didnt change course quite the opposite. In fact, the low shocking thing weve learned in the last 5 or 6 years is that these companies, the Oil Companies for the Biggest Companies in the world, had their own science programs inside the company. They had a very deep understanding of the Climate Crisis before the rest of us didnt really this is from the early 19 ninetys on october this p r film from the oil joining show show scientists taking gases from the atmosphere and measuring Ocean Temperatures to Research Climate change the the multinational was researching how its product affected the atmosphere. Its business rivals. Were doing the same. Total b, p, chevron, and above all the oil joined. Excellent. The were on our way to florida to meet a former member of Excellence Research department. Its an unusually rainy day in the sunshine state, which is a magnet for retirees. The Martin Hartford now spends his time making model aircraft as a professor of physics at new york university. He studied changes in the earths atmosphere in the late 19 seventys. He was one of the 1st scientists to predict rising temperatures. I add again thats evidence that i thought the greenhouse effect would begin to warm the atmosphere sometime in the late 19 eighties in the 19 ninetys. We would start to see the effect based on our calculation. The 1st line on the graph shows the increasing amounts of atmospheric c, o 2 and parts per 1000000 or pm for short. The 2nd shows the expected rise and Global Temperatures in degrees celsius. The graph is part of an internal Research Report from 1982 that was revealed by the us press in 2018. The trove of documents show that exxon already knew of the risk of burning fossil fuels. At the time. Were on our way to switzerland to meet climate researchers, sonya cindy van, i think she will show us the current concentration of Greenhouse Gases in the atmosphere. Shes one of the worlds leading climate scientists. Skiffs. Hop on to say that ive seen the graph from 1980 to predict a concentration or 420. 00 parts per 1000000 for the year 2020. Thats all that fit in. That was almost exactly the concentration that was actually reached in 2020. And i see when i thought it was the 419. 00 parts per 1000000 issue of that, which i mean, thats really the publication of the documents triggered a political earthquake in the United States. A Democratic Congressional lawmakers called for a hearing in the house of representatives about the oil industrys efforts to suppress the truth about Climate Change. That was in 2019 the. Do you swear or affirm that the testimony youre about to give is the truth. The whole truth and nothing but the truth. So help you god. Dr. Hood, for your 1st chief witness was professor martha hoffer with his calculations from the year 1982 on doctor. How about your work with exxon was focused on the carbon cycle and climate modeling. I have a slide up here and so 1982 was 7 years before i was even born. Exxon accurately predicted that by this year, 2019 the earth would hit a Carbon Dioxide concentration of 415. 00 parts per 1000000 and a temperature increase of one degree celsius. Dr. Hoffer it, is that correct . We were excellent scientist. Yes, you are. Yes you are. So they knew they knew and i, i presume they knew what some of the consequences of that one degree celsius change would be. Some of them, not all. Absolutely. I would like to have an opportunity to discuss that if someone asks me, miss hofords said that his findings had been passed on to top x on executives. He quit in 1987, 6 years after starting his consultancy work for exxon. Because he realized that his research was not prompting any change and company strategy. I was there because i thought that i could, i mean this was very naive of me. I thought that i could influence them to change their business plan. But you must understand the exxon was producing Quarterly Earnings of tens of billions of dollars, and the stockholders were making a lot of money. So if you put yourself in that position, i have a company where im a very profitable my stockholders and making a lot of money. However, were destroying the planet. The people will say, well, i wont be here in 20, you have 30 years. I will have a nice a golden parachute where they give me a lot of stock and ill be doing fine. We can only speculate why the managers of exxon and other Oil Multi Nationals did not listen to the scientist. Research by cra, davies from the Climate Investigation Center in washington has shown that the Companies Even launched a massive Counter Campaign to call the science into question. Dozens of documents revealed their strategy to foster down to about Climate Change and its causes. It was a war against science. Exactly. They, they were fighting the trends that people were starting to look at the Health Impacts of Climate Change. They were very upset that the were talking about whether extremes connecting it to Climate Change, anything that anything that raised the Public Awareness or raised Political Energy around this issue. They tried to kill it. The 1st seeds of doubt were sewn in 1988. The in this internal exxon memo to accompany spokesperson recommended down plane Climate Science findings the emphasize the uncertainty and scientific conclusions regarding the potential enhanced greenhouse effect, the troy. For many years, the oil industry has pursued precisely this strategy is the vin chair of exxon, the worlds biggest Oil Companies. You can put it this way in his speech to oil industry representatives in 1996. Proponents of the Global Warming very say that higher levels of Greenhouse Gases, especially c o 2 are causing world temperatures. The rise in the burning fossil fuels is the re but Scientific Evidence remains in conclusion, as to whether human activities affect the global time. So there is simply no reason to take drastic action now. In december 1997, the oil giants found himself under increased pressure and kyoto, 192. 00 states, including the us, signed a historic agreement which they called for reduction of Greenhouse Gas emissions that she chose from this situation. The serious Climate Change could be catastrophic for our children and grandchildren. These are the kyoto protocol represented a threat to business for the us. Oil companies, lower emissions would mean less demand for their products and ultimately endangered their Business Model that prompted them to renew efforts to call Climate Change. And the question that was the goal of this communication plan issued by the American Petroleum institute. The leading Industry Trade association in 1998. Its chief a. The manipulation of public and media opinion victory will be achieved when average citizens understand or recognize on substances in Climate Science. Recognition of uncertainties becomes part of the conventional wisdom media understands or recognizes uncertainties and Climate Science within this campaign. They target politicians of course, but theyre also targeting every everyone. All of us are targeting the media Media Outlets trying to influence the way the issue is covered. And in some of these documents or even targeting school teachers, they put out their own lesson plans to try to get the balance in the school systems. So they know that theyre concerned about Climate Change starts very young and they want to manipulate children. They want teachers thinking about it. They want people debating whether this is a problem or not. Hundreds of millions of dollars were spent on lobbying and advertising. Climate activist richard wiles, has seen just how well this strategy has worked over the past decades. That they succeeded with money and right, they mean the number of ads that they run is just mind blowing. They started in the late eightys early ninetys and have continued for the past 30 years, bombarding the public with either the notion that Climate Change is on certain that it may not happen now. It wont be that bad. We cant survive without oil and gas. If we dont have oil and gas, you wont be able to drive a car. You wont be able to heat your home, both of which are patently untrue, obviously. But, but you know, with enough money and enough advertising, you can convince people just about anything and thats what theyve done. Why did they do that . The other thing probably the worst thing is that they were deliberately manipulating facts to protect their profits. And they did not want to be blame. They did not want to be regulated. They did not want to be controlled. We asked the American Petroleum institute, the api, i to respond to these allegations in an interview. Dozens of our emails went unanswered. Then we received this statement. The rank over the past 2 decades demonstrates that the industry has achieved its goal of providing affordable, Reliable American Energy to us consumers, while substantially reducing emissions and our environmental footprint. Any suggestion to the country is false. The oil industry paid thousands of lobbyists to obstruct or delay any kind of climate, action, and environmental regulation that is common knowledge. But few lobbyists have been caught bragging about their methods. The in may 2021. Under cover investigators working for the environmental n g a green piece field, exxon mobiles top lobbyist, keith mccoy. Exxon sufficiently. Ready busy notice its like its a fishing, right . You know, you have a real cause or they need, you need it was a revelation for a lot of people that, you know, they, they know what theyre doing. They know how theyre manipulating the, the political system here in the United States. Did we aggressively bikes against um, some of the science. Uh yes. Disney joining some of these shadow groups to work against some of the really efforts. Yes, thats true. But there is nothing. Theres nothing legal about that uh, you know, we were looking out for our investments. We were looking out for our in our shareholders. Democratic representative ro, canada from california was particularly upset by the video. Kinda is a member of the House Committee on oversight and accountability, which organized hearing to probe the companies about this Information Campaign that was the catalyst. I mean, that keeps mccoy, basically was on a tape bragging about his role in killing climate legislation. Bragging that he gave the rhetoric the Company Gives the rhetoric about caring about climate, but behind the scenes or killing legislation to tackle the climate. And i said, weve got to get them in to explain this. And people say, you cant get the ceos they will never come in. So i said, well subpoena that the Company Executives had no choice, but to take part as it was october 28th, 2021. A room of the Oversight Committee chair opened the session the committee will come to order. This is a historic hearing. For the 1st time top fossil fuel executives are testified together before congress under of about the industrys role in causing Climate Change. And their efforts to cover it up. You can either come clean and make your misrepresentations and ongoing inconsistencies and stop supporting climate. This information. Org. You can sit there in front of the American Public and lie under oath. The top executives stuck to their strategy in their online appearances at the hearing which took place during the cobit pandemic. They stressed their concerns about the environment and their efforts to reduce the use of fossil fuels. Thank you for the opportunity to be here today to discuss the urgent need for action on Climate Change and shells efforts to advance societies transition to a lower carbon future. Excellent. Mobile provides essential, an essential component of mars society. Affordable, reliable, and abundant energy. Exxon mobil as long recognized that Climate Change will impose a serious risk, while our views on Climate Change have developed over time. Any suggestion, whichever is engaged in an effort to spread this information and mislead the public on these complex issues is simply wrong. In closing a p, i supports Climate Action governments, industries and consumers must accelerate policy and Technology Solutions together. They promise. Now they say the hearing that they lasted for several hours with little to show for it and a probably none of the executives was prepared to be truly pinned down or been in there are any, if youre today prepared to make any statement saying were going to take accountability on something so important and stop funding groups that are actively engaged in any form of climate this information on. Okay. I take that. You dont want to take the pledge. All right. That the investigation was continued up. The more hearings followed were, were nearly to ro, kinda wanted to replicate the success of the 1994 Tobacco Industry hearing back then, the chairs of the 7 biggest Tobacco Companies lied to the same committee. Yes or no . Do you believe nicotine is not a judge . I believe nicotine is not addictive. Yes, mr. John, i believe the nicotine is not on the big bathroom hearings captured the american imagination. People said it is wrong that these tobacco executives know that cigarettes are addictive, and yet theyre denying that. And that led to a lot of change in this country. I dont know when i was growing up. If you went to a, a bar or sporting events, you would come back filled smelling of smoke. Thats no longer the case. There was a cultural change in america. We need a similar cultural change when it comes to the embrace of alternative energy when it comes to the embrace of renewables when it comes to the embrace of electric vehicles. And the hope is that these hearings can be a galvanizing moment and break through in the cultural conversation in this country. The facts were denied for 40 years. For the last 2 years in which more Decisive Action could have been taken to curb Climate Change. Nowadays, the impact of Global Warming is evident world wide back on the south east coast of the us. It is coastal regions like this one that are feeling the impact of Climate Change 1st, all around the world. Katie, luciano is a geologist in the South Carolina department of natural resources. So here this is one of our roads insurance, x and im measuring from the forest to the sea and getting a better idea of how the shoreline is transitioning as it moves in a rows backwards. Weve had a poseurs of hurricane, a lot of a very high tides, and the rows and rate has, has basically doubled from its a source, arose and rate of 7 and a half meters per year. In the past few years, 13 to 16 meters of beach had been lost more than ever before. You can look back here and you can see were right in the forest here. So you can see all of the vegetation and the bases actively eroding onto this island. The entire east coast of the United States is at risk from rising sea levels. Charleston in South Carolina is one of the hardest hit cities. Its a popular tourist destination. The Historic District is situated on a peninsula only barely above sea level. Climate change is a major challenge for the city. Just tell us 1st, how has Climate Change affected charleston and of the let me think of a word dramatically. We are on the front line of Climate Change from Sea Level Rise and from the increase impacts of extreme weather. We have seen the direct impacts year after the year for a decade now. Every year, flooding tied like when i was a boy, maybe 5 times a year. Now its 90 times a year that impact our streets. The city is regularly hit by hurricanes. In 2017 or my cost widespread damage taking protective measures has become a priority since then. In the last 6 years, several 1000000. 00 had been invested to raise the prominent by a meter nice looking guy. So now youre providing protection for all of these houses in this area from high tides. But charleston also faces k serge events. If you have a major hurricane firm or was not a major hurricane, if you get a major hurricane and it comes in, it could push a wall of water 101214 feet high. And if you would get that, that would, over top this, this would all be flooded. The vin mayor of charleston filed a lawsuit against the people who he blames for the extreme weather events, reeking destruction in the city. He wants the city to be repaid for a winter to spend on repairing the damage and on Climate Adaptation measures. The city of charleston is suing 24. 00 bank Oil Companies over damages to the city and theyre con reviews. Sions to Climate Change. The law suit announced today by charles the mayor john tack lindberg. I feel its not fair to the citizens in charleston. They have to bear the burden, the total cost of these improvements that are needed because of sea level wrong. The city of charleston is directly suing Oil Companies, such as exxon mobil, shell, chevron, m, b, p. In particular because of their misInformation Campaign. Instead of warning of a known consequences following from the use of the products and working to minimize the damage, the defendants concealed the dangerous, promoted false, and misleading information, and sold to undermine public support for Greenhouse Gas regulation. It was a misInformation Campaign. Its very similar to what the Tobacco Companies did with the cigarette smoking and the impacts of cigarettes. Right. Is very similar story. Very similar story to what weve seen here recently from the pharmaceutical companies in the open, george they, they pushed the product out, they pushed the product out. Oh, everything fine, you know, and they know that there were problems, but they kept bringing the product for charleston is not alone. Some 30 other cities and us states are also suing the Oil Companies, including baltimore, new york city, washington, dc, massachusetts, and minnesota. The plaintiffs are getting support from richard whiles and his Environmental Action group the these cases are very winnable and thats why the oil industry is terrified of these cases, right . Theyre, theyre far more fearful of these cases and they are of anything the Congress Might do or anything that any state Legislature Might do. Because, you know, theyve got a lot of power in the congress. They pretty much, ellen, the republican party, right. They money in politics is a huge problem in this country, but they are afraid of these cases because they have the potential to stick them with the damages that they have caused. The Companies Want to avoid at all costs being forced to open their archives, in case more compromising records are on earth. If those documents come out, the reputation of damage to these companies will be in norms, right . These are the things they fear. That is a recipe for disaster for these companies, and theyll do anything they can to avoid it. When we had been hoping for fundamental change, 40 years had been lost. This Information Campaign has influenced everyones thinking. Scientists are still fighting to be heard. And its not easy to face up to the reality. The speed of transition to Renewable Energy is sluggish. And we will all pay the price down to the company. Because if the Oil Companies would listen to their own scientists 40 years ago and gone down a different path for some, how would the world look today to suggest that we would be in a completely different situation. The help of Climate Change wouldnt really be a big problem in the world because a large amount of the Greenhouse Gas emissions have been produced since the 19 ninetys. So after the i p cs 1st report, that is a shocking thing. By then everyone could clearly tell that we would run into problems if we carried on is before this one. Im in pleasure to is there words to qualify this, this information company, diesel . I mean its just pure evil. I dont know what to say. Other than that, at this point, i mean, the science is so clear, and yet these Companies Continue to mislead and deceive the public about it. And everybodys life on the planet is at stake. These companies are just despicable, the if the big slide 40 years ago. What would the world be like if they all companies had live 40 years ago . We probably wouldnt be standing so close to this water right now. Wed probably be way back there in the distance amongst all the trees that are standing up here in the birds chirping. Seeing the sea gulls come begging us for that. Celeste dont make 40 more years. Less sell. The farmers are protesting around the world. Climate change, subsidies and competition from imports threatening their life. Leon helped in the world c, supply the secured into the winners and losers. The actor cultural business of the future made in germany in 30 minutes on the d. W. The. This is the w news live from the balance. Germany says it will review cooperation with the u as agency, the palestinian refugees, an independent investigation finds no evidence to backup. Israel claims that some of the agencies employees to pause in the event. The 2nd attacks also coming up on the program, arrested for protesting in israel. We meet the palestinian human rights lawyer charged with incitement to terrorism of the leading a demonstration in support of the concepts. Plus the us secretary of states asked me blink and has arrived in china for 3 days of tools. His visits comes as congress