FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 20, 2006
Contact: Shawnee Hoover, Tel. 202-546-9707, Cell 202-674-0922

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September 20, 2006 - Today The Guardian UK reported that ExxonMobil told The Royal Society of the UK that it may no longer be funding the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) and other corporate front groups that misrepresent the science on global warming. Exxon has since issued a statement that "The Royal Society's letter and public statements to the media inaccurately and unfairly described our company" and would not say if the funding would be stopped.

“Exxon for years has deliberately deceived policy makers and the public on the science of global warming,” says Exxpose Exxon member Kert Davies of Greenpeace USA. “If they stop funding mouthpieces like CEI and other front groups, then perhaps Congress will finally be allowed to move forward with mandatory cuts on global warming pollution.”

The Royal Society, among the most respected scientific academies in the world, established in 1660, sent ExxonMobil a letter September 4th, echoing the ongoing demands of the Exxpose Exxon coalition and shareholder groups that Exxon stop funneling millions of dollars to front groups that deny the scientific consensus on global warming.

In its letter to ExxonMobil, The Royal Society detailed its research showing ExxonMobil spent $2.9 million in 2005 funding some 39 groups that “misrepresented the science of climate change by outright denial of the evidence." Exxpose Exxon research by Greenpeace shows that ExxonMobil has spent $19 million since 1998 funding more than 70 institutes and front groups that have worked to delay crucial action on global warming by injecting uncertainty into the scientific discussion and by falsely claiming that climate policies would result in economic ruin.

An anonymous spokesperson for ExxonMobil told The Guardian that they stopped funding CEI this year. In 2005 CEI received $270,000 from ExxonMobil and another $270,000 in 2004 for “global climate change outreach” and other activities. CEI is the most heavily funded of all ExxonMobil’s favorite front groups, receiving at least $2 million since 1998. CEI has been a leading voice in the media and policy arena attacking scientific assessments by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. CEI’s most recent campaign featured outlandish TV ads with the tag line “Carbon dioxide – They call it Pollution, We call it Life”.

“We are encouraged that The Royal Society has joined the effort to pressure ExxonMobil to stop its disinformation campaign,” says Shawnee Hoover, campaign director of the Exxpose Exxon campaign. “It remains to be seen if the company is changing its tune or just doing damage control from the word getting out that it’s the most prominent funder of these discredited viewpoints.”

Exxpose Exxon, a coalition of many of the largest environmental and public interest organizations in the U.S., started publicly pressuring ExxonMobil in 2005 to stop funding think tanks and front groups that have no scientific credibility and create the illusion of a debate about the science of global warming.