Exxon tells courts the science is uncertain — while internal scientists modeled warming with high accuracy

Public-facing position throughout the 1990s–2000s: 'the scientific evidence is inconclusive as to whether human activities are having a significant effect on the global climate.' Exxon argued in defense filings that its statements were protected first-amendment opinion on a contested question.

Exxon's own scientists, in internal memos, accurately projected the magnitude and rate of human-caused warming decades before the public statements that called the same science 'inconclusive'. The peer-reviewed analysis shows the internal projections tracked observed warming to within the uncertainty of mainstream climate models.