As Shell faces a landmark climate lawsuit, "confidential" documents from the 1960s show British scientist James Lovelock warning executives of the risks of burning fossil fuels. See his June 1966 memo published in full for the first time with my latest for @desmog.com

The Lovelock Papers: Shell’s Hidden Climate Knowledge Under Scrutiny as Court Battle Looms

“What seems to be important,” wrote the visionary British scientist, James Lovelock, in June 1966, is “the almost certain fact that the climate is worsening and the probability that the combustion of ...

desmog.com

🆕 I spoke w/ half a dozen former attorneys at DOJ's environment division, newly renamed as the "energy" division, about the significant changes there under Trump 2.0 - incl. an attorney exodus, involuntary reassignments of section chiefs, the recent name change, & the massive drop in enforcement

Inside Climate News@insideclimatenews.org · last wk.

Trump officials say enforcing environmental laws is still a priority at DOJ, but former attorneys say enforcement has collapsed.

Environmental groups are demanding the Environmental Protection Agency reject a new Pfas that chemical giant Chemours is attempting to fast track for approval for use in cooling datacenters, and would almost certainly pollute regions around the facilities www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

US environmental groups urge EPA to reject new Pfas to cool datacenters

Coalition says Chemours downplayed health and climate risks in bid to fast-track the compound’s use

theguardian.com

ExxonMobil will report second quarter earnings in a few days. Most analysts expect profits for the quarter will more than double compared to last year, from $7 billion to about $16 billion.

Simon Evans@drsimevans.carbonbrief.org · last wk.

🔥🔥🔥Newspaper frontpages🔥🔥🔥

Important New York Times story is out today on our investigation: www.nytimes.com/2026/07/21/c...

NEW: Louisiana residents living near major toxic polluters are often left in the dark about what they're breathing. Our investigation found major gaps in the state's air-monitoring network—and how industry-backed legislation helped keep it that way. floodlightnews.org/louisiana-to...

Louisiana communities are left in the dark on toxic air — and industry helped keep it that way

The state’s air monitors are often miles from its biggest polluters and residents have little way of knowing what they’re breathing. That’s no accident.

floodlightnews.org

This CCI report lays out, for the first time, exactly how the oil & gas industry created and pushed the myth of "clean," climate-friendly natural gas—a myth that persists to this day. This is an INCREDIBLE, meticulously-researched resource for anyone who works on climate.

Center for Climate Integrity@climateintegrity.org · 2w ago

NEW: Big Oil and Gas created the myth that natural gas is "clean" — despite knowing the health and climate harms of methane decades earlier than previously reported. A major CCI investigation exposes how the gas industry deceived the public and policymakers into believing gas is a climate solution.

Huge investigation out today helmed by @rebleber.bsky.social and @rebeccajohn.bsky.social revealing just how long ago industry knew gas would destroy the climate -- with tons of new details showing how they hid the facts and worked to promote gas as "clean." 👏👏

Center for Climate Integrity@climateintegrity.org · 2w ago

NEW: Big Oil and Gas created the myth that natural gas is "clean" — despite knowing the health and climate harms of methane decades earlier than previously reported. A major CCI investigation exposes how the gas industry deceived the public and policymakers into believing gas is a climate solution.

how is every politician not out there talking about the smoke and their plans to reduce emissions

NEW: They wanted to hold Exxon accountable. Then they got hacked A decade after climate activists’ emails were breached, a court case is shedding new light on who allegedly orchestrated the hacking How the mystery unfolded through the eyes of the climate activists: grist.org/article/exxo...

They wanted to hold Exxon accountable. Then they got hacked.

A decade after climate activists' emails were breached, a court case is shedding new light on who allegedly orchestrated the hacking.

grist.org

UPDATE: This first-of-its-kind wrongful death case is moving forward after a state court denied oil companies' motions to dismiss this week 🧵 (1/3)

Dana Drugmand@danad1012.bsky.social · last yr.

"This latest case—the first filed on behalf of an individual climate victim—is another step toward accountability," said @climateintegrity.org's Richard Wiles www.climateinthecourts.com/big-oil-face...

In case you missed it: Exxon's executive counsel is leaving the company to join the U.S. DOJ's newly renamed Energy & Natural Resources division, which lists blocking climate lawsuits against oil and gas majors as a priority. 🫠🫠

E&E News: Exxon lawyer to join DOJ energy division

Robert Levy, executive counsel at the oil company, will retire from his role and join the federal government later this month.

subscriber.politicopro.com

The US oil and gas industry and the Trump regime are doing everything they can to "strong-arm the European Commission" into delaying the rollout of the EU's methane-reporting rule. And they are succeeding. subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eene...

E&E News: ‘Can you help us?’: US oil execs turn to Trump to topple Europe’s climate rules

Here's an inside look at how a climate regulation became a battleground between the U.S. and Europe.

subscriber.politicopro.com

California just finalized rules for CCS pipelines without distance requirements from communities. Oil companies just have to avoid building near them "as far as practicable" and, if they can't, provide regulators with "vapor dispersion" analyses & training for 1st responders. What could go wrong

Emily Sanders@emdashsanders.bsky.social · 10mo ago

California is setting a path to lift its moratorium on CO2 pipelines with new safety regs. But the state won't set a distance requirement protecting communities, which oil lobbyists opposed. Advocates say it's a recipe for disaster. from me & @levernews.com www.exxonknews.org/p/california...

"When white moderates complained in similar fashion about the civil rights movement, Martin Luther King criticized their 'mythical concept of time' in Why We Can’t Wait. We can’t wait when it comes to climate change, either."

Boston Review@bostonreview.bsky.social · last mo.

“To a remarkable degree, the greatest threats to our democracy in recent decades have their origins in efforts to protect the fossil fuel industry from a clean energy transition.” @aaronregunberg.bsky.social on what the arguments for “climate hushing” get wrong:

Another carbon capture plant canceled. "Air Products is scrapping plans to develop a multibillion-dollar project in Louisiana that would have produced of hydrogen and captured carbon dioxide. The company will take a pretax charge of as much as $2.9 billion." www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Air Products Cancels Massive Clean Energy Complex in Louisiana

Air Products and Chemicals Inc. is scrapping plans to develop a multibillion-dollar project in Louisiana that would have produced of hydrogen and captured carbon dioxide.

bloomberg.com

“Public comments are integral to the functioning of democracy. They have been since ancient Athens,” said disinfo expert Samuel Woolley. Now AI-linked platforms generating mass public comments are invading the process, warping local climate politics (gift link) www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

AI-Powered Mass Emails Are Warping Local Energy, Climate Politics

From California to North Carolina, officials weighing policy changes are being inundated with comments via platforms that tout AI capabilities.

bloomberg.com

"fossil fuel companies launched sophisticated public relations campaigns to muddy the waters, creating authoritative-looking reports designed to mimic official government science while downplaying the catastrophic threat to marine ecosystems like coral reefs."

Big Oil knew it was destroying coral reefs

Fossil fuel companies knew since at least the 1980s that their products would decimate coral reefs, new research shows.

theconfluence.news

The pernicious role of fossil fuel funding of climate research doesn't get any clearer than this: "'Wedges' would likely never have been written without BP’s funding" What $15 million upfront, $56m total, buys you...

ProPublica@propublica.org · last mo.

NEW: This is the story of how one of the most influential climate papers in history came to exist thanks to one of the companies most responsible for causing the climate crisis — and one with a financial stake in the technologies described in the paper. w/ @drilledmedia.bsky.social

Paris court orders TotalEnergies to account for its scope 3 emissions "As Europe swelters under another deadly heatwave, the French court has sent a strong message: fossil fuel companies will be held accountable" said @ecchr.bsky.social's Clara Gonzales insideclimatenews.org/news/2606202...

French Oil Major Failed to Fulfill ‘Vigilance’ Duty on Climate, Paris Court Rules - Inside Climate News

In a landmark climate case against TotalEnergies, a French court said the company could not hide behind consumers and needs to account for the full range of its emissions, including those from the use...

insideclimatenews.org

Incredible chart from @propublica.org. If you don’t follow enviro stuff closely, your instinct might be that the hold-your-nose solution (carbon capture from fossil fuels) would be the “pragmatic” one versus covering Earth in solar panels, which seems utopian. In fact it’s the opposite

30 years for moving some zines www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Chevron making a lot of public noise about its dirty fossil gas deal to power a Microsoft data centre...

EU bows to lobbyists and Washington, moves to weaken Methane Regulation A leaked draft document shows the European Commission on the verge of scrapping all penalties for violating the Methane Regulation through the end of the decade. gasoutlook.com/analysis/eu-...

EU bows to lobbyists and Washington, moves to weaken Methane Regulation - Gas Outlook

A leaked draft document shows the European Commission on the verge of scrapping all penalties for violating the Methane Regulation through the end of the decade.

gasoutlook.com

after walking 212 miles across Spain I am back! and have returned to a Signal lapse since my computer & phone went out of sync -- if you messaged me there over the past month, please resend 🫥 and send any stories I should see from the past month my way!

Some exciting news: this is the end of ExxonKnews on Substack, but I’ll be launching a new and expanded climate accountability reporting project from Ghost later this year. I'll be offline for the next month, but will check signal/email when I'm back --stay in touch. Much more to come!

The future of this reporting project

It’s the end of the ExxonKnews era and the beginning of something new.

exxonknews.org

Terrific new story from @alleenbrown.bsky.social about the trial of @ndncollective.bsky.social founder Nick Tilsen and the rules of "narrative warfare." Alleen also tracked down all the footage the courts tried to keep out of the public, and it's linked in the piece! drilled.media/news/tilsen

An Indigenous Activist was Accused of Trying to Run Over a Cop. Body Cam Footage Shows What Really Happened

Nick Tilsen, founder of NDN Collective, spent nearly four years fighting felony charges that he says were politically motivated.

drilled.media

Along with 29 other organizations, we called on the Senate Judiciary Committee to investigate Justice Alito's failure to recuse from an oil case where he could profit from its outcome. Senator Durbin said the letter reiterates why the Supreme Court needs to be more transparent with the public.

Watchdogs seek Senate probe of Alito over oil case conflicts

The conservative justice, who owns significant sums of oil and gas stock, has not recused himself from a major climate change case that could benefit the

eenews.net

The chemical lobby is still fighting a NY plastic reduction law because it excludes "chemical recycling," or melting down waste and supposedly turning it into new plastic. The highly polluting tech has mostly failed to work as promised, but it sure does help if you want to keep selling plastic

New York Plastics Law Advances Amid Debate Over ‘Chemical Recycling’ - Inside Climate News

Environmentalists and some state lawmakers say the process does more harm than good. Plastics producers are pushing back.

insideclimatenews.org

"How can the Democrats expect to win back the confidence of voters without demonstrating a fighting spirit? And who better to fight than the corporations—from Big Oil to Big Tech—that the Trump administration is allowing to reshape the American landscape and economy without public input or consent?"

Hannah Story Brown@hannahstoryb.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Of course Democrats should talk about climate change. The real question is how. A politician looking for how to talk climate with their constituents should pay attention to what material conditions constrain the flourishing of the community they represent. A climate story is in there.