Exxon pulls the plug on climate flat-earthers

ExxonMobil shocked environmental campaigners when it announced in May that it would stop funding groups that deny human-made climate change.

In a corporate citizenship report, published ahead of its annual general meeting, the US oil and gas giant said that it would suspend donations to public policy groups “whose position on climate change could divert attention from the important discussion on how the world will secure the energy required for economic growth in an environmentally responsible manner”.

It is a new tune for a company that environmental activists, like Greenpeace, have long criticised for denying the long-term implications of its fossil fuels business on the planet. But does Exxon’s move signify a radical change in the company’s attitude to climate change, or is this merely an astute public relations approach to deflect attacks from campaigners?

Exxon has reportedly dropped nine groups, including the Capital Research Center, Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow, Frontiers of Freedom Institute, George C Marshall Institute and the Institute for Energy Research. The company has not yet named the remaining groups.

Kert Davies leads Greenpeace’s ExxonSecrets project, which keeps tabs on Exxon’s funding of climate change sceptics. He says Exxon is “clearly struggling to rid itself of the anti-climate policies of its former chairman and chief executive Lee Raymond”. New company head Rex Tillerson seems serious about wanting to shake off Exxon’s poor reputation for addressing environmental concerns, Davies says, but he and his company have “some way to go”.

Greenpeace reports that last year 37 global warming denial groups were given $2 million in support by the ExxonMobil Foundation and through other corporate funds. Cutting nine is a start, Davies says, but it still leaves more than two dozen groups of concern that receive backing from the oil giant. These groups are the “engine room” of the climate sceptic industry, says Davies.

Emissions focus

Ethical Corporation called the named groups Exxon dropped this year for comment and just one responded. And even then, Larry Farnsworth, spokesman for the Capital Research Center, would only say that his group “has appreciated ExxonMobil’s support over the years”.

Exxon spokesman Alan Jeffers told Ethical Corporation that the company is focused on reducing its own emissions and on helping consumers do the same. He says the company has spent more than $2 billion over the past five years to increase efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Exxon has eliminated five million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions during this period, which Jeffers equates to removing one million cars from US roads.

“We could continue to talk about these groups on who’s doing what, but we’re really more interested in taking action and that’s what we’re focused on,” Jeffers says.

He says this latest news from Exxon is not a real change in approach, but more of “a change in how Exxon is talking” about its strategies. “Our chairman said at our recent annual meeting that we could do a better job of explaining what it is that we do.”

For now, Exxon plans to continue to do what it does well: producing oil and gas. The company, along with the International Energy Association and the US Department of Energy, believes that hydrocarbons will make up 80 per cent of energy supply over the next 20 years.

The “bottom line”, Jeffers says, is that Exxon believes that “the time when people are diverting attention from the important discussion should be past”. But he questions Greenpeace’s classification of many of the groups it funds, including the Black Chamber of Commerce, as “climate deniers”. Jeffers says Exxon “just doesn’t agree with [Greenpeace] on all of its views”, and “never dictated to anybody how to approach these public policy issues”. “We promote discussion on a range of issues that are relevant to the company and to, we think, people everywhere,” he says. “Debate, after all, is all about differing views.”

Jeffers stresses, however, Exxon’s position on climate change. “We take it very seriously. We think the risks of climate change warrant action and we are taking action,” he says.

These are certainly words environmental groups like Greenpeace can use to keep up the pressure on Exxon to continue to act on climate change.


Sceptic funds

According to Greenpeace:

· Funding to the five named groups – Capital Research Center, Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow, Frontiers of Freedom Institute, the George C Marshall Institute and the Institute for Energy Research – totalled $400,000 of the nearly $2 million granted by ExxonMobil in 2007.

· ExxonMobil’s total contributions to climate change sceptic groups totalled approximately $23 million from 1998-2007.


Useful links:
www.exxonsecrets.org
www.exxonmobil.com