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I just testified as an expert witness to EU Parliament about ExxonMobil's decades of climate denial + delay. Between being the first major hearing of its kind, a leaked Exxon memo, & the rising prospect of Exxon being banned from EU lobbying, it was an interesting day. THREAD
2/n: You can watch the full hearing here (my testimony starts at 11:53:13, and my responses to some, ahem, enthusiastic Q&A start at 12:37): europarl.europa.eu/ep-live/en/com… 
3/n: As @ClimateLawNews reported, this was the first time any major body of lawmakers has heard on-record evidence of the fossil fuel industry’s decades of climate denial. climateliabilitynews.org/2019/03/21/eu-…
4/n: I’ll post my slides and the press conference video ASAP, but in the meantime, here’s my conclusion slide. I shared three key takeaways with Parliamentarians...
5/n: Takeaway #1 - Big Oil is the new Big Tobacco. From strategy and tactics to infrastructure and rhetoric, the fossil fuel industry’s denial and delay come straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook.
6/n: Takeaway #2 - ExxonMobil is a case in point. My and @NaomiOreskes's peer reviewed analysis demonstrates beyond doubt that ExxonMobil misled the public about climate science and its implications. nytimes.com/2017/08/22/opi…
7/n: Takeaway #3 - This is just the tip of the iceberg. One cog in a well-funded, well-oiled climate denial machine.
8/n: For an up-to-date summary of the history of the fossil fuel industry's climate knowledge & denial, see this amicus brief submitted by colleagues and I to the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in support of CA climate lawsuits:
9/n: And something else happened yesterday. Exxon refused to come to the hearing, choosing instead to smear me and @NaomiOreskes behind the scenes, in a now-leaked memo sent to MEPs the day before the hearing.
10/n: This is doubt mongering and character assassination-101, and it backfired. It shows that even though Exxon says it has changed, its sabotage of science and its slander of scientists continue.
11/n: Also, and ironically, it exemplified the very corporate capture this EU hearing was called to address. It is a smoking gun of how the industry operates in the shadows to stymie action on climate change.
12/n: This was plain for Ministers of Parliament to see. Immediately following the hearing, Minister of Parliament @MollyMEP announced that she would formally request that Exxon be banned from lobbying the EU. @AFP's @Lachlan1959 has the deets: news.yahoo.com/eu-parliament-…
13/n: And as @guardian's @ArthurNeslen reports, "ExxonMobil would become only the second multinational – after Monsanto – to lose access to MEPs, parliamentary meetings and digital resources if it loses a high-level vote expected by the end of April.": theguardian.com/business/2019/…
14/n: My thanks to @Europarl_EN for its unprecedented attention to these issues and for inviting me. And thanks of course to the dozens of colleagues, scholars, and journalist I channeled and cited in my testimony. Onwards.
15/n: UPDATE 📽️ Here's a full recording of my testimony along with accompanying slides. WATCH: facebook.com/1243521/videos…
