February 1, 2007 — ExxonMobil, the world’s largest private oil company, reported its 2006 profits today of $39.5 billion – breaking its own world record from 2005 of $36.1 billion as the most profits ever made by a company in a single year. ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson is poised to pump most of that money right back into polluting oil and gas projects, lobbying against solutions to global warming, and funding front groups and junk science.
Notably, ExxonMobil’s record-breaking profits are announced right as the world’s preeminent scientists are about to release a groundbreaking report expected to underscore the role of fossil fuels as major contributors to global warming.
“The good news is that Exxon is finally is admitting that somebody should do something about global warming,” said Shawnee Hoover, campaign director of Exxpose Exxon. “The bad news is they refuse to recognize that they are that somebody.”
ExxonMobil continues to stand far outside the mainstream on global warming. Notwithstanding a recent minor shift in rhetoric, the company’s opposition to solutions remains. This was further evidenced last week when ten corporate giants including Duke Energy, GE, Alcoa, PG&E and oil giant BP announced their broad support for mandatory reductions of global warming pollution. Their plan calls for decreasing emissions by 60 to 80 percent below current levels by 2050, which they say will create more economic opportunities than risks. ExxonMobil, who typically outspends its competitors in the industry on lobbyists, reiterated its intentions to continue lobbying against such solutions.
“Mandatory limits on carbon dioxide are the only way the U.S. can achieve the reductions needed to avoid the worst impacts of global warming,” says Tim Greeff of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). “ExxonMobil has taken only a modest first step by agreeing that something should be done, now it’s time to back those words up with action.”
Due to intense pressure from the general public, scientists and policy makers to cease funding dozens of groups that put out disinformation on climate science and policy, ExxonMobil told the press recently that it stopped funding “five or six” of the groups, including the Competitive Enterprise Institute. The company declined to disclose the names of the other groups or clarify if the move was a change in policy or a one-time public relations ploy.
“We are encouraged that Exxon has disassembled a small piece of their decade-long disinformation campaign on global warming,” said Kert Davies of Greenpeace. “But Exxon’s lack of transparency about the matter and their continued funding to dozens of global warming denial groups leaves us suspicious that it’s more of a PR trick than a policy change.”
