ExxonMobil has responded to a series of reports about the company’s internal climate research, calling the reports by Inside Climate News “inaccurate and deliberately misleading.”The reports allege Exxon scientists conducted cutting-edge climate research decades ago and then led efforts to block anti-climate change action.
In a statement, Exxon VP Ken Cohen says the company recognizes that its past participation in climate-change denying groups have made it an easy target for environmentalists. But Cohen says the fact that the company has produced more than 50 peer-reviewed publications on topics including the global carbon cycle, detection and attribution of climate change, low carbon technologies and analysis of future scenarios for energy and climate shows that Exxon is serious about advocating for low-carbon policies.
“For nearly 40 years we have supported development of climate science in partnership with governments and academic institutions, and did and continue to do that work in an open and transparent way,” Cohen says. “Activists deliberately cherry-picked statements attributed to various company employees to wrongly suggest definitive conclusions were reached decades ago by company researchers. These activists took those statements out of context and ignored other readily available statements demonstrating that our researchers recognized the developing nature of climate science at the time which, in fact, mirrored global understanding.”
Exxon is one of 437 companies using carbon pricing to offset the costs and risks of their greenhouse gas emissions production, according to a September CDP report.
However a Carbon Tracker Initiative report published the same month said Exxon is not preparing for an energy transition to limit climate change, and the oil giant’s inaction puts investors at risk.
