On October 14th, 2021, Lauren MacDonald looked Shell CEO Ben van Beurden in the eyes on the stage of TED Countdown and called him evil. Anti-pipeline organizers and Van Beurden had convened at the panel to discuss the future of energy and climate.

No matter what he says today, remember, Shell has spent millions covering up the warnings from climate scientists, bribing politicians, and even paying soldiers to kill Nigerian activists fighting against them, all whilsty rebranding to make it look as though they care, and that they have the intention of changing. Disproportionately, in the Global South, so many people are already dying due to issues related to the climate crisis such as pollution, extreme heat, and weather-related disasters. This is not an abstract issue, and you are directly responsible for those deaths.

Watching MacDonald call van Beurden out was a jolting reminder that there are human beings responsible for our climate crisis. And human beings can be held accountable. If we need immediate and large-scale global action to ensure a livable future, it couldn’t hurt to confront these perpetrators with the casualties of their actions and demand them for answers and restitution.

Originally tweeted by StopCambo (@StopCambo) on October 14, 2021.

If you’re here, you probably know that 97% of scientists agree that climate change is human-caused and that every passing year is a nail in our collective coffin. Despite science-based and growing anecdotal evidence, many people worldwide feel confused about the consensus about, and causes of, climate change. The roots of this uncertainty are rarely identified and called out, which allows doubt to persist, multiply, and shape policies and organizational action. So, let it be known: there are villains to this story. And they deserve to be named.

Executives of the fossil fuel industry have intentionally manipulated science and democracy to obscure the facts of climate change for over 40 years. (Read: Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway’s Merchants of Doubt.) Here are three of climate change’s biggest proponents, from the Guardian’s Dirty Dozen:

Darren Woods, CEO of ExxonMobile: Exxon is one of the companies that knew about climate change over 40 years ago. And what did they do with that (literally world-saving) knowledge? They spent millions to cover up the facts and spread climate denial – all while pumping more than 40 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent into the atmosphere since 1965. Darren expressed support for the Paris agreement and lowering pollution – but was then caught planning for Exxon to increase its carbon emissions by 17% and for their lobbyists to block climate legislation in Congress.

Charles Koch, head of Koch Industries: Koch Industries is a refining and pipeline company that has pushed climate denial from day one and spent nearly $150 million to fund climate denial groups between 1997-2018 (21 years). In 2021, Koch Industries is ranked the biggest spender on oil and gas lobbying, shelling out $5.6 million. Charles is also the founder and funder of the Cato Institute, a libertarian thinktank that has created and disseminated climate denial and is known as the first organization to stoke the ideological and political divide on climate change.

Rupert Murdoch, founder of the News Corp media conglomerate and CEO of Fox News: Robert’s companies have been the number one source of misinformation on climate and have spouted climate denial for decades. Even in 2019, more than 80% of the content on Fox News was actively discrediting and denying climate science. His net worth is over $23 billion.

Read about the other nine climate villains here.

And of course we can’t forget the villain who shuffled his feet, looked at the floor, and chuckled when confronted by MacDonald about his own offenses:

Ben van Beurden, CEO of Shell: Shell is the 7th biggest polluting company in the world – even receiving a court order to cut their emissions in half. In response, Shell is fighting the verdict, all while joining TED Countdown to convince they public that they care about sustainability and clean energy. Shell’s fossil fuel extraction has left a trail of pollution, illness, and murder (seriously). They pledged to reduce their emissions and then turned around and obstructed climate legislation.

I want to take MacDonald’s words and speak them to these men and the countless others who are choosing greed over life: “I hope that you know we will never forget what you have done.” But in order to never forget, we need to put faces to names, names to actions, actions to consequences. We all, in our own ways, must sit across from the villains and look them in their eyes. Yes, to demand accountability, but also to help literally galvanize us into action. It’s difficult to rally against what feels more like a concept than a crisis, but identifying climate’s perpetrators can help us move from helplessness to action and from uncertainty to righteous anger. These executives have held a criminal amount of power over the world – but they haven’t yet seen the kind of power that we hold, together, when we look them in the eyes and say “no more.”