Interesting chronology of the tobacco industry there, but I don't think you can equate fossil fuels to tobacco. I'm playing a bit of devil's advocate here, and oversimplifying... Tobacco is a certain type of vice. Vice has always been, and always will be in demand. Certainly, tobacco usage was curbed via science and a change in public opinion, but big tobacco still limps by to this day. So this is less about public opinion, because most people don't actually care about how their energy consumption needs are met. This is more about economic forcing. If it's cheaper to not use fossil fuel, game over. Fossil fuel's political allies will turn away the moment that their pockets get lighter, which is of course driven by profit (or the lack thereof). The fossil fuel industry will not continue to limp on, it will rather abruptly die.