Ten years ago today –
“A small coalition of prominent climate change activists and political operatives huddled on Jan. 8 [2016] for a closed-door meeting at the Rockefeller Family Fund in Manhattan. Their agenda: taking down oil giant ExxonMobil through a coordinated campaign of legal action, divestment efforts, and political pressure.”
https://freebeacon.com/issues/memo-shows-secret-coordination-effort-exxonmobil-climate-activists-rockefeller-fund/
and
see also here
https://www.eenews.net/articles/private-eye-behind-exxonknew-hacking-scheme-faces-jail-time
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly 355ppm. As of 2026 it is 428ppm, but check here for daily measures.
The broader context was that in the late 1970s Exxon’s scientists got their heads around carbon dioxide build-up (this was not top secret – see the CO2 Newsletter!). But the corporation pivoted in the mid-1980s to, well, funding denial because that’s the growth imperative, isn’t it?
The specific context was that even though the laws are made by the rich to constrain the poor, they offer some kind of venue, sometimes, to blunt/slow our acceleration off the cliff. Maybe. And here we are.
What I think we can learn from this is that we’re fubarred and Cocker Protocol is the only protocol.
What happened next
Well, a news outlet funded by the IPAA is gloating –
A Decade of Defeat: The Rockefeller-Funded Climate Crusade on the Road to Nowhere
Ten years ago, a subpoena from then New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman launched the Rockefeller-funded legal crusade against America’s energy industry. This week marks a decade since the news broke about the case – but you won’t hear activists bragging about it this week.
That’s probably because their so-called “trial of the century” ended in spectacular defeat. What was supposed to be a game-changing lawsuit instead became the first in a long string of dismissed cases – in a campaign defined by courtroom flops, sketchy funding schemes, and millions in wasted taxpayer dollars.
Now, ten years later, the story is reaching a full circle moment. The U.S. Supreme Court is weighing whether to review a case brought by Colorado municipalities that could determine the fate of this climate lawfare. A ruling could close the chapter on a ten-year campaign that has repeatedly failed from the start.
Ultimately, the campaign’s setbacks are primarily grounded in courts’ recognition of the weak legal theories and unfounded claims, but its lack of success also shines light on how politics and public priorities have shifted over the decade.
Also on this day:
January 8, 1968 – LaMont Cole to AAAS about running outta oxygen, build-up of C02 etc
January 8, 2003 – Energy firms plan to “bury carbon emissions”…
January 8, 2013 – Australian Prime Minister connects bush fires and #climate change