In 2015, InsideClimate News published Exxon: The Road Not Taken, a multi-part history of Exxon’s engagement with the emerging science of climate change. It won a dozen journalism awards, including being named finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. The series describes how Exxon conducted cutting-edge climate research decades ago and then worked at the forefront of climate denial, manufacturing doubt about the scientific consensus that its own scientists had confirmed. Two state attorneys general investigations into what Exxon knew about climate change, and a wave of litigation against fossil fuel companies, have ensued.
This short FRONTLINE film, produced in collaboration with InsideClimate News in 2015, provides a look at some of the project’s findings.