InsideClimate News has run another piece attempting to twist our words relating to the important subject of climate change.

The unsubstantiated claim this time is that in highlighting a chart from the U.N.’s most recent climate assessment in an October 15 blog post, I sought to overstate the scientific uncertainty of climate models.  I did no such thing.

Here is the chart in question from the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change:

And this is what I said about it in our blog post:

We have worked closely alongside other top scientists on the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change since its inception in 1988 – a collaboration that continues to this day.

I have taken the liberty here to copy a chart from the IPCC’s latest assessment showing the organization’s scientific evaluation of the range of possible climate change scenarios. This should refute the claim, central to activists’ conspiracy theories, that anyone had reached a firm conclusion about catastrophic impacts of climate change back in the 1970s and ‘80s.

As you can see, the scientific community that contributes to the IPCC report is, even today, still projecting a broad range of potential outcomes.

Got that? At no point did I attribute the ranges in the chart solely to uncertainty in climate models. In fact, I clearly stated that the chart was an “evaluation of the range of possible climate change scenarios.”

Just to be clear, the ranges in the chart are due to uncertainty in a number of factors including uncertainty in the climate models but, more importantly, to uncertainty in future technology development as well as uncertainty about expected policy responses.

Which is why ExxonMobil believes that our response to climate change should seek to reduce the uncertainty in all of these areas.

For that reason, we support the continued advancement of climate science, and the development of lower-carbon technologies along with appropriate policy responses.

Our company recognizes that the risks of climate change are real and warrant responsible action. Precisely what actions to take is the discussion all of us should be having, all the while keeping in mind the monumental scale of the world’s energy needs to support economic growth and social development.