Ben Franta

Associate Professor of Climate Litigation @TheOxfordSLP @TheSmithSchool | Lawyer, historian, physicist, dreamer & doer

[Ben Franta @BenFranta]

Want to know more about the historical evidence underlying California's major lawsuit against Big Oil?

For the first time, my doctoral dissertation on Big Carbon's history of climate deception is available to the public.

Read, share, and take action:
https://t.co/aZsqzKhbJA

[Ben Franta @BenFranta]

🌟 Last chance to join us in Oxford this September for our executive education course on the legal risks and opportunities around climate change!

Including 50% discount for early career lawyers and professionals...

Apply here:
https://t.co/2Uc6GDVYh2

[Jake Rutherford @SingularValued]

Excited to announce the public launch of CLARA -- the Climate Accountability Research Assistant:
https://t.co/CqFcCtd8s8

CLARA is an advanced research agent powered by Large Language Models (LLMs). It autonomously formulates multi-step research plans to tackle complex climate litigation questions, executing them by:

🔎 Searching a knowledge graph through a powerful hybrid of graph queries and semantic search (our own take on GraphRAG).
📚 Accessing and deeply analysing entire documents to extract precise and relevant information.
🧠 Iteratively adjusting its research strategy based on new findings, dynamically following leads and refining the scope of inquiry.

CLARA represents a significant advancement in archival research, supporting scholarship, investigative journalism, and the preparation of legal evidence.

You don't need to be a historian or expert to use CLARA. Simply ask your question, and CLARA will deliver detailed, clearly cited answers along with direct links to original source documents, making sophisticated archival research accessible to everyone.

And, it's FREE to use.

Many thanks to my collaborators, @MegPatakota , and @BenFranta from the Oxford Sustainable Law Programme's Climate Litigation Lab.

#AI #LLM #RAG #GraphRAG #DeepSearch #DeepResearch #Agents #Oxford #Climate

[Ben Franta @BenFranta]

Let's use AI for corporate accountability and a cleaner, healthier, more just world: https://t.co/Rl7pJ7IKk1

[Ben Franta @BenFranta]

Excited to announce the public launch of CLARA -- the Climate Accountability Research Assistant: https://t.co/Rl7pJ7IKk1

[Ben Franta @BenFranta]

You don't need to be an historian to use CLARA. Ask it any question, and CLARA will answer with detailed, cited answers and links to the original source documents. CLARA makes archival research accessible to anyone.

And, it's free to use.

[Prof Julia Steinberger @JKSteinberger]

This week's readings ...
1. @BenFranta 's Weaponizing Economics https://t.co/SYMtyEiyth
2. @ProfSteveKeen 's Appallingly Bad https://t.co/mLzkZ9NYCc
3. Koeberle et al's Cost of Climate mitigation revisited https://t.co/UFnygQ5Cvl
... and my students are not best pleased.🤣

[Ben Franta @BenFranta]

Big Oil lined its pockets, leaving the consequences to others.

[Ben Franta @BenFranta]

And even earlier, in 1982, an internal memo at Exxon mentioned studies predicting increased drought from fossil fuels:

[Ben Franta @BenFranta]

This CO2 induced summer dryness results not only from the earlier ending of the snowmelt season, but also from the earlier occurrence of the spring to summer reduction in rainfall rate." (Page 19 here: https://t.co/ncVOMTJUEb)

[Ben Franta @BenFranta]

"In scenario A [business as usual use of fossil fuels] drought conditions continue to increase rapidly, to about 25% in the 2020s and 45% in the 2050s." (Page 98 here: https://t.co/DmgArGzeEM)

[Ben Franta @BenFranta]

"By the 2020s there is no mistaking the great intensification of drought at almost all middle latitude and low latitude land areas. ... Drought conditions, which occur 5% of the time in the control run, have increased to 10% in the 1990s. ...

[Ben Franta @BenFranta]

In 1988, scientists from NASA and NOAA warned of drought from global warming at the Second North American Conference on Preparing for Climate Change, which was co-sponsored by the American Petroleum Institute, Texaco (now part of Chevron), and other fossil fuel interests:

[Ben Franta @BenFranta]

As fire continues to rage in Los Angeles, remember that Big Carbon has known for decades that its fossil fuel products would cause droughts to become much more common. 🧵

[Ben Franta @BenFranta]

Litigation can help ensure a more *just* transition away from fossil fuels.

Dr. Juliana Velez Echeverri of @TheOxfordSLP summarizes the state of just transition litigation:
https://t.co/Os5Q7TlNoH

[Rebecca John @rebecca_John1]

"Major oil companies, including Shell and precursors to energy giants Chevron, ExxonMobil and BP, were alerted about the planet-warming effects of fossil fuels as early as 1954" writes @dharnanoor

reporting on documents via @DeSmog
https://t.co/L8SlEmj5yC

[Rebecca John @rebecca_John1]

Once Upon A Time In LA ... Big Oil Told 70 Years Ago That Fossil Fuel Emission Could Impact 'Civilization'

NEW Archival sources reveal story of early front group that went 'rogue' before being pressured back into line by California's oilmen

latest ⬇️

https://t.co/MnKAnBcom0

[Ben Franta @BenFranta]

Incredible new archival finds by @rebecca_John1: Big Oil was warned by its *own* front group about global warming in 1955, then told the group to shut up and buried the research.

https://t.co/12abvPUQ9i