I'm not sure, but I think that is the point they were making. The fossil fuels industry isn't some machine or an alien being, but a collection of humans, each of whom is very deliberately choosing wealth and power over correct behaviour. Likewise the politicians who deliberately choose to let them or, worse, help them get away with it. And don't get me started on the economists who treat corporations as machines or aliens who must be appeased rather than harnessed to the benefit of society.

The general public has known for at least 20 years what is necessary. The political class has known for at least 40 years. Industry has known for at least 50 and probably 60 years. Depending on how you read the research, scientists have known for as long as 150 years.

Actually, if you consider carbon emissions as just another case of dumping waste into the environment in the naive hope that nature will take care of it, everybody from all classes and sectors has known what was needed since at least the creation of the first national park designed to protect nature from destruction.