Seven years ago, on this day, September 19th, 2019,
OGCI proclaim “Progress towards methane target and new CCUS initiative”
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was 412ppm. As of 2026, when this post was published, it is 430ppm. This matters because the more carbon dioxide in the air, the more heat gets trapped. The more heat, the more extreme weather events. You can make it more complicated than that if you want, but really, it’s not. Fwiw, I have a tattoo of the Keeling Curve on my left forearm.
The broader context was that oil companies had played a wonderfully effective game against any carbon action whatsoever since the late 1980s (they knew all about the issue significantly earlier than that, of course). In the run up to the 2015 Paris COP they had set up the latest bullshit PR stunt, the Oil and Gas Initiative (Exxon couldn’t be bothered to join in).
The specific context was that it was pretty obvious by now that the Paris Agreement was in deep trouble, but also there was a very marked upswing globally in concern about environmental matters, thanks to the IPCC 1.5 degrees report, the coming of Extinction Rebellion, Greta Thunberg, school strikes, and so forth. And so the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative was inevitably spouting its nonsense, which people who wanted to believe were very willing to believe and academics found themselves having to take seriously as well.
What I think we can learn from this is that people will believe whatever it is convenient for them to believe.
What happened next the OGCI staggers on
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On this topic, you might like these other posts on All Our Yesterdays
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References
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You can see the chronological list of All Our Yesterdays “on this day” posts here.
What do you think? Does this pass the ‘so what?’ threshold? Have I got facts wrong? Interpretation wrong? Please do comment on this post, unless you are a denialist, obvs.
If you want to get involved, let me know.
If you want to invite me on your podcast, that would boost my ego and probably improve the currently pitiful hit-rate on this site (the two are not-unrelated).
Also on this day:
September 19 1969 – ABC Radio warns listeners about carbon dioxide
September 19, 1991 – Ötzi the Iceman is discovered by German tourists
September 19, 1997 – John Howard condemns the South Pacific to hell. Again.
September 19, 1998 – Public Health Association calls for “life-saving green taxes”