Reacción a "Reactions to the accuracy of Exxon's climate change predictions since the 1970s"

This publication comprehensively reviews the publications of ExxonMobil oil company scientists since the late 1970s. From the point of view of climate science, the article does not add anything substantially new to what is currently known about the evolution of climate and the primarily anthropogenic causes of current climate change. However, the article is very relevant as it sheds much light on the large gap that existed at the time the publications - both peer-reviewed and the company's own internal scientific papers - were written between ExxonMobil's communication strategy and what was known internally on the subject.  

The warming projections estimated by ExxonMobil scientists differed little from similar studies conducted and published between 1970 and 2007 by other academic and governmental institutions, and which were independently derived with different models. In this sense, the authors of this work conclude that the company's scientific team knew as much about the subject as the rest of the scientific community, which demonstrates the extent to which the scientific community progresses in parallel and feeds back on results and advances of groups working independently in the same field of activity. 

What is really important about this work is that it shows very clearly the dichotomy that existed between the company's scientific department and those responsible for the company's communication strategy. While the scientists' results were perfectly in line with those obtained by other national and international groups, the company's communication strategy overemphasised the uncertainties, the limitations of climate models, the indiscernibility of anthropogenic warming and natural variability, and downplayed or even denied the role of fossil fuels as a fundamental cause of current climate change. 

The ExxonMobil scientists also calculated the maximum amount of CO₂ that could still be emitted into the atmosphere, mainly from fossil fuel use, to avoid a warming of more than 2°C above pre-industrial times, which is the upper limit of acceptable warming under the Paris Agreement. They estimated a range of maximum CO₂ emissions (between 2015 and 2100) from 251 to 716 gigatonnes of carbon. Recent research has narrowed the range somewhat, but the ExxonMobil scientists' estimates are essentially consistent with the generally accepted range. 

Ultimately, the paper shows that the conclusions drawn by ExxonMobil scientists with their own climate models showed warming (due to greenhouse gas emissions mainly caused by massive fossil fuel use) that was consistent with those of the rest of the scientific community.  

This study is the first to address the quantitative aspects of the work developed by the company's scientists and is in stark contrast to the company's own communication strategy, which is based on sowing doubts and exaggerating uncertainties in order to delay any kind of climate action in response.