Since the signing of the Paris Agreement, and despite warnings about the implications of increased emissions resulting from fossil fuel expansion, Elsevier has helped the industry to "accelerate discoveries." Elsevier continues to enable and empower high-emitting customers that have business plans antithetical to a livable future.
2003RELX/Elsevier joins the UN Global Compact. The UNGC supports a “precautionary approach to environmental challenges” in which a lack of scientific certainty is no reason to postpone measures to prevent environmental degradation if there are "threats of serious or irreversible damage.” UNGC also declares that "businesses have minimum responsibilities to meet to respect human rights. They must act with due diligence to avoid infringing the rights of others, which includes addressing any negative human rights impacts related to their business."
2010Elsevier launches Geofacets, a workflow solution "requested by geoscientists working in resource exploration." (Webinar: Introduction to the Geofacets-SEPM Millenium Edition)
2011The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP) are adopted. Businesses are guided to "seek to prevent or mitigate adverse human rights impacts that are directly linked to their operations, products or services by their business relationships, even if they have not contributed to those impacts…Questions of complicity may arise when a business enterprise contributes to, or is seen as contributing to, adverse human rights impacts caused by other parties."
Scientists warn that most of the world’s fossil fuel reserves cannot be burned without causing catastrophic global heating.
2011Elsevier has "over 60 journals...used by geoscientists in the industry on a daily basis." (Elsevier oil and gas webinar, How to Make a New Venture Project More Successful, July 13, 2011). Elsevier and the Society Geological Society of London pledge to "deliver significant advantage to companies focused on upstream oil and gas exploration."
2012Ron Mobed becomes CEO of Elsevier: "A petroleum engineer by training, his early career work with the collection and analysis of data from oil rigs in the North Sea set the stage for his understanding of the role that data plays across a number of industry sectors."
2013Elsevier positions itself "as the leading book publisher for the oil and gas industry."
2014Elsevier, in "helping solve the exploration puzzle in upstream oil and gas," claims "exploration has never been more seamless." (Video)
2015 The Paris Agreement calls for limiting temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels to prevent serious and irreversible damage. Scientists declare that to keep global temperature rise below 2°C, a third of known oil reserves, half of gas, and 80% of coal have to stay in the ground; The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) states that businesses must “be accountable for their climate impacts and participate responsibly in climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts with full respect for human rights.”
The Keep it in the Ground Act is introduced in the US Senate; it would prohibit the digging or drilling for fossil fuels on federal land or waters, to align federal energy policies with U.S. climate goals.
At the annual general meeting, shareholders are informed of “its alignment with the UN Global Compact,” that “in may ways Reed Elsevier already operated according to circular economy principles…[and] that the biggest [environmental] contribution Reed Elsevier could make was through science, through its journals and what was published.”
2015Elsevier promotes a gold rush for Mexican oil and gas as also being a "data rush" that the company can help fuel. RELX subsidiary Lexus Nexus promotes due diligence solutions for oil and gas to remove barriers for opening operations in emerging markets.
Headline from The Guardian (2015).
Graphic from The Guardian, based on data from a paper in Nature (2015).
Shell's CEO at a 2018 Elsevier event: "Our goals should also be attainable, with enough ambition to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius." At the time Shell was already facing lawsuits for being misaligned with that goal.
Carbon Tracker diagram (2019).
2016Elsevier states that "oil and gas companies need to invest $250 billion per year in exploration, and drill approximately 670,000 wells [by 2020]" that will require "a sustainable commitment to investing." (R&D Solutions PDF) Elsevier R&D Solutions case study says that for "helping experts dig deeper and discover more...there’s no better partner."
2017RELX signs the We Are Still In Declaration, aiming to “continue to support climate action to meet the Paris Agreement [...and] remain actively engaged with the international community as part of the global effort to hold warming to well below 2°C and to accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy.”
2017"Elsevier’s R&D Solutions is a portfolio of tools that integrate data, analytics and technology capabilities to help oil & gas businesses reduce E&P costs and boost operational efficiency" (R&D Solutions for Oil and Gas PDF); Regarding "negative impact on costumer use of its products and services," investors are informed "RELX focused its efforts [on its own activities] rather than trying to measure what exactly the customers did with the products, which was quite difficult." (RELX AGM).
2018 With it estimated that there's only 10 more years of emissions in the carbon budget at the current rate and the "main obstacle to compliance with any reasonable warming target" considered to be "the abundance of fossil fuels," scientists call for a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty to keep warming below 1.5°C.
2018As Shell faces multiple climate lawsuits pertaining to misalignment with the Paris Agreement, Elsevier invites its CEO to the first annual Elsevier Economics Lecture, where he promotes Shell as being “in step with society's drive to align with the Paris Agreement” and claims that “in Canada, Shell has shown that CCS [carbon capture and storage] works.” Like other CCS projects, that project would be found to emit far more CO2 than it captures.
2019 RELX states that “we believe the Paris Climate Agreement is our best hope for avoiding dangerous climate change…We support global efforts to mitigate climate change through the rapid reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.” (RELX Climate Change Statement). A RELX policy says it's “committed to the protection of the environment, through the prevention of pollution [and to] minimising its contribution to climate change, in line with the scale of action deemed necessary by science.” (RELX Global Environment Policy)
2019 Elsevier explains that it "enables entire exploration and development teams to gain a deeper understanding of petroleum systems and reservoir properties" (Elsevier Oil and Gas PDF) and it "helps oil and gas companies prioritize opportunities" and "increase productivity" (Oil and gas going green white paper)
2020 A RELX voluntary initiative indicates it will “implement science-based targets on climate and drive actions that are consistent with a 1.5-degree pathway to achieve net-zero.” (Climate Pact)
2020 Elsevier explains that "to help find things that weren’t found before" is what the company is good at, in this exploration and production webinar and that "Oil & Gas customers are gaining increasing value from ScienceDirect, with unlimited access to an ever-expanding library of interdisciplinary content across a wide range of subject areas." (ScienceDirect Corporate Edition PDF)
2021 The IPCC and IEA conclude new fossil fuel developments are incompatible with global net zero and Paris 1.5°C warming goals.
The UN Human Rights Council adopts resolution 48/13, recognizing “the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.”
The UN states that the "climate change directly and indirectly interferes with the enjoyment of all human rights," and that it's the duty of businesses, under the UNGP, to discontinue "activities with potentially adverse climate change-related human rights impacts."
As "one of the most sustainable businesses in the world," RELX signs a letter indicating support for the idea that "corporate responsibility for human rights and the environment is a duty and not a voluntary matter."
2021 Employees report to the company that it's acting contrary to its environmental and human rights commitments. This follows an ethics complaint that observes, despite its stated policies, the company is engaged in facilitating a massive increase in fossil fuels, sometimes in collaboration with companies "accused of various environmental and human rights crimes." The company is informed that avoiding the harms associated with 1.5°C overshoot requires "ceasing investments in new fields, stopping production of new reserves, and starting the phase-out of some existing production," but that Elsevier promotes itself as a driver for accelerating discoveries and exploration prospects. Employees, including editors at premium journals, note the company can't serve the interests of fossil fuel majors while also claiming to be responding to the climate emergency "at the scale deemed necessary by science." They also note the UNGP guidelines, which include the need to discontinue “activities with potentially adverse climate change-related human rights impacts."
Despite highlighting “lethal ramifications for hundreds of millions of people just this century,” the company does not find there to be any violations of company policies. Company promotion of the oil industry as 'going green' and 'transitioning' is not flagged as violating a code of ethics that prohibits misleading claims. Leaders are asked to provide evidence as to how global fossil fuel expansion could still be compatible with the language of its climate and human rights commitments or a 1.5°C warming target; to substantiate the claim made to employees that the industry Elsevier serves is "heavily motivated" to make a transition; to indicate which publics were consulted regarding engagement in the business activities in question; to share what the company considers to be prohibited under its climate and human rights commitments; and to share how large the projected loss of life would need to be for the company to consider the business activities in question antithetical to its commitments.
The company introduces a previously unenforced communications restriction that has the effect of limiting the internal sharing of Elsevier's fossil fuel industry marketing materials and paywalled fossil fuel papers and climate science. The marketing materials are subsequently taken down and websites altered.
Employees ask Cell Press leaders for answers to 10 business, climate, and human rights questions; the questions—including one seeking clarity on Elsevier's commitment to the OECD's non-retaliation guidelines—are never answered, nor is the request to end deceptive messaging and be provided with a timeline for when the company will end its dangerous support for fossil fuel expansion.
A request to disclose Elsevier's fossil fuel activity in a job post is denied, partially under the premise that there isn't consensus that new fossil fuel projects are objectionable. A sustainability journal editor is "not surprised" but finds the reasons "very poor."
Elsevier R&D promotes the perspective of a former Shell employee, that “with modern CO2 capture technologies, virtually all the CO2 produced in the hydrogen plant can be mitigated and, therefore, blue hydrogen can play a key role in the transition to a carbon neutral society.” The reality is that ‘blue’ hydrogen may be "worse than gas or coal…The best hydrogen…can be that path to a sustainable future. Blue hydrogen is totally different.”
February 24, 2022
October 12, 2022
"According to UCS and SGR, pledges made by RLEX "include membership in the [United Nations] Race to Zero campaign, which has set a deadline of June 15, 2023 for members to halt the facilitation of new fossil fuel assets and to ensure that all external engagement activities are aligned with reaching the global net-zero goal."
2023 RELX AGM: "The scientific community's advice is to stop new oil and gas exploration to keep the world in a safe place. So how can you justify this part of your business?"
Scientists protest at RELX UK Headquarters (April 25, 2023)
2022 The company publicly declares it is "not prepared to draw a line between the transition away from fossil fuels and the expansion of oil and gas," activity that "drags us towards disaster." Addressing Cell Press employees, a leader dismisses this by saying the world can't do without fossil fuels and that there aren't alternatives right now. Leaders are subsequently asked to provide employees with evidence to indicate the fossil fuel expansion in question is consistent with realistic pathways to limit warming to 1.5-2°C.
An Elsevier sustainability leader is asked to provide employees with evidence to show the company isn't generating "potentially adverse climate change-related human rights impacts." In response, employees are assured that Elsevier is "ensuring the content, products and data insights we generate help the energy transition."
The same month Richard Horton of The Lancet reports he's been told “by the highest authorities in Elsevier that the company is progressively divesting itself from the oil and gas industries,” Elsevier joins the OSDU Forum, founded by oil and gas majors seeking an open data platform to "enable them all to be more efficient and effective in finding oil deposits." OSDU is called a “game changer” built “to resolve the problems of accessing complex E&P data." OSDU Forum oil majors have business plans antithetical to net zero pathways, warming targets, and a science-based, just transition. Fellow members such as Aramco, BP, Chevron, Equinor, Exxon, Petrobras, and Shell are fighting an energy transition, remain severely misaligned with the Paris Agreement, and have CCS (carbon capture and storage) projects that increase oil production. One partner is lobbying to extend one of its coal mines for over 90 years. Oil and gas is sabotaging all seventeen SDGs, but Elsevier continues to claim it's supporting its partners and customers in their "energy transition."
Leaders are again asked about negligence of UNGP commitments to discontinue "activity with adverse climate change-related human rights impacts which may be directly linked to our operations, products or services [and] obtain free, prior, and informed consent from potentially impacted people prior to taking actions likely to have climate-related human rights impacts.” An Elsevier leader forbids the sharing of an employee report containing scientist testimonials related to Elsevier's stated unwillingness to end support of fossil fuel expansion.
A manager's use of intimidation tactics targeting employee advocates and her use of false claims, including that the company does not promote fossil fuel extraction, are brought to the attention of RELX Compliance and Ethics; this generates no engagement. Another complaint is brought to a Cell Press Senior Manager regarding management's use of false claims, gaslighting, and inappropriate pressuring to accept company greenwashing practices and to disengage from advocacy that's independent of management.
2022 The RELX annual report, considering a "business as usual" scenario marked by rising sea levels, political instability, and "significant health impacts," notes that "sentiment may favour organisations such as RELX that have taken action to limit the impact of climate change."
RELX's membership in the UN's Race to Zero, which recognizes the 1.5-degree pathway requires the "phasing down and out" of fossil fuels, indicates members must end "facilitation of new unabated fossil fuel assets" in line with IEA and IPCC scenarios.
The Union of Concerned Scientists and Scientists for Global Responsibility launch a petition requesting the company address inconsistency with its sustainability claims, the UN Global Compact, the UN Race to Zero, and the UNGP.
The Lancet Planetary Health publishes a call to “end expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure and production […due to the] need to save lives from pollution and climate change-related harm.” Elsevier flagship journal The Lancet publishes a commentary article that declares Elsevier's continued support for coal, oil, and gas exploration to be "morally and materially insupportable."
2023At the Annual General Meeting, RELX leadership emphasizes to investors that "the world still needs fossil fuels" and that the company continues to provide the industry with "data, and analytics, and information." Products and services the company says have been 'repurposed' and 'transitioned' are in fact still informing the industry's drive for new projects, and are thus incompatible with realistic just transition scenarios. An investor informs leaders, "I don't think you understand what 'transition' means."
Elsevier provides data and information on AWS's OSDU platform. Amazon continues to facilitate the industry's exploration for more hydrocarbons around the world, neglecting the human rights harms of increasing oil and gas production. Amazon justifies oil industry contracts by claiming it's "helping the oil industry move to a greener future" but does not address irreversible impacts caused by increased oil and gas production from its biggest clients.
An Elsevier sustainability leader assures employees that energy journals have been 'transitioned'—even as they and many other publications continue to inform global fossil fuel expansion—and claims there is still need for a "scientific dialogue around fossil fuel." Evidence is requested to demonstrate there's room in the carbon budget for all the new projects that company materials are informing, but none is provided.
Human Resources is asked about the company's UNGP commitments pertaining to due diligence that include adverse climate change-related human rights impacts, but no answers are provided.
UCS/SGR petition organizers observe that Elsevier is negligent of its UNGP obligations and ethics code. They conclude its claims "are demonstrably false" and it's "turning a blind eye to its activities that enable other entities to remain high emitters." Petition organizers request the company pledge to end support for fossil fuel expansion and industry misinformation by the end of 2023.
2023 Referencing UNGP human rights guidelines, UN investigators send a letter to companies still facilitating "continued exploration for more oil and gas," indicating they are at risk of generating "significantly worsened climate change-related human rights impacts."
As RELX claims to "support the Paris Agreement’s intention to limit climate change to 1.5°C,” the IEA’s 2023 Net Zero Roadmap report reaffirms no new oil, gas, or coal fields are compatible with limiting global temperature rise to 1.5ºC. A paper in Nature Communications concludes that coal, oil, and gas supplies must decline on average by 99%, 70%, and 84%, respectively, from 2020 to 2050, in a 1.5ºC pathway.
With no pledge from RELX to stop promotion of fossil fuel expansion and industry misinformation, the Union of Concerned Scientists and Scientists for Global Responsibility announce the launch a UNGP-based grievance mechanism process to be spearheaded by Climate Rights Coalition, its partner organizations, and other stakeholders.
2024 Elsevier "sunsets" Geofacets, but it still appears to be utilized by third parties promoting fossil fuel expansion.
The company promotes itself as a member of Amazon's Climate Pledge, an initiative that allows companies to remain engaged in facilitating fossil fuel expansion. The pledge's Lead is asked "how the Pledge considers fossil fuel expansion to still be compatible with net zero and the goals of the Paris Agreement," but no such evidence is provided in response.
The UN's Race to Zero Policy & Engagement Leader indicates that RELX is not in UN Race to Zero and "thus should not be presenting themselves as such." The Race to Zero interpretation guide indicates members must restrict facilitating new fossil fuel assets in line with the IEA and IPCC's pathways, something not covered by Elsevier journal scopes.
2023 is declared the hottest year on record. In February 2024: Canada's fire season starts, the Atlantic Ocean is 'on fire' with the currents system shows signals of collapse, Antarctica's 'Doomsday Glacier' is rapidly melting, the world has for the first time spent a year over 1.5°C, there's extreme heat across the globe, and the planet is warming at an unprecedented and accelerating rate. Richard Horton observes in The Lancet that, due to global heating, "every dimension of health tracked by the Lancet Countdown is getting worse, not better," as fossil fuel supply increases are projected to produce the highest-ever level of global oil supply in 2024, fossil fuel firms are spending more money on new oil and gas sites than at any time since the 2015 Paris climate deal, and the industry colludes "to obstruct climate policies” while contesting “efforts to constrain fossil fuel supply.”
RELX (RX) partner Whitehaven Coal continues coal expansion and 5 OSDU Forum members are sued for climate harms and discrediting science, as Shell waters down its climate pledges, ExxonMobil's CEO blames the public for the crisis, BP freezes offshore wind projects to focus on fossil fuels, Chevron openly promotes it's increasing oil and gas production, and Saudi Aramco's CEO says it's time to abandon the fantasy of phasing out fossil fuels. All of these oil majors have employees serving as editors on Elsevier journals, as fossil fuel industry misinformation is published in Elsevier journals featuring content "vital for successful hydrocarbon exploration, development, and production efforts."
2024 With over 150 partner organizations, CRC's initial communication is delivered to RELX, including a complaint submitted to The Special Procedures of the United Nations Human Rights Council. As employees did in 2021, RELX is asked to provide a timeline for when it will stop supporting activities that carry the risk of generating substantial human rights harms.
An Amnesty International human rights event and petition call on the UN to reform voluntary corporate initiatives that are helping companies still supporting fossil fuel expansion to hide the negative climate and human rights impacts associated with their business decisions.
The OSDU Forum removes Elsevier from its list of members. RELX reveals it's working on drafting a "RELX Human Rights Policy."
Union of Concerned Scientists blog post (2023): "In its response to the petition, Elsevier and RELX claimed to be focused on a transition to clean energy. Given the services Elsevier and RELX continue to provide, these claims are demonstrably false."
Fossil fuel expansion generates emissions inconsistent with a healthy future and promotes new infrastructure that undermines possibilities for a just energy transition.