... As the CEO of ExxonMobil, [Darren] Woods was paid $15.6m last year to run the richest, most powerful private oil company in history. But his earnings and influence will be on the line when he appears before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform ... . His testimony could mark the beginning of the end of big oil escaping legal and financial responsibility for the climate crisis.

Joining Woods ... will be the heads of three other giant oil companies: Michael Wirth of Chevron, David Lawler of BP and Gretchen Watkins of Shell Oil. The Big Oil 4 ... will be questioned about what members of Congress call a “long-running, industry-wide campaign to spread disinformation about the role of fossil fuels in causing global warming”.

... [J]ust as tobacco companies lied for 40 years about the dangers of smoking, so too have the oil companies lied for decades about the dangers of burning fossil fuels. They saw today’s climate crisis coming – their own scientists repeatedly warned top executives about it – and decided, bring it on.