Scientists have long recognized the devastating effects caused by greenhouse gases released by the burning of oil, coal and gas, including massive increases in temperature, storms, floods, droughts, and diseases. In spite of the overwhelming scientific evidence that global warming is endangering the planet, ExxonMobil continues to spend more than any other oil company to weaken U.S. and international efforts to solve global warming, ensuring continued dependence on fossil fuels both in the United States and globally.
Putting its Cash Behind Fossil Fuel Dependence
While other major energy companies have begun investing heavily in clean, renewable energy sources, ExxonMobil continues to sink most of its money into fossil fuels. According to ExxonMobil's 2002 Financial and Operating Review, the company spent close to $95 billion on acquisition, exploration and development of oil and gas.
ExxonMobil for President?
The company's influence on U.S. energy policy ExxonMobil's contributions to the Republican Party in the 2000 election cycle totaled more than one million dollars, more than any other oil company. Since 1997 the oil giant has spent more than $47 million on lobbying efforts to influence members of Congress. In 1999 ExxonMobil's lobbying budget, $11.7 million, was the fifth highest in the United States, topped only by pharmaceutical and tobacco giants.
Two days before President Bush's inauguration, an ExxonMobil paid editorial advertisement appeared in the press outlining the company's recommendations for "An Energy Policy for the New Administration." The ad stated that the "unrealistic and economically damaging Kyoto process needs to be rethought."
The Executive Vice President of ExxonMobil, Rene Dahan, was quoted in the Financial Times on October 2001, stating that the Bush alternative to the Kyoto Protocol "will not be different from what you're hearing from us."
It is obvious that ExxonMobil has had a strong voice in shaping Bush Administration energy and global warming policies. Documents obtained by the National Resources Defense Council regarding the Bush-Cheney Energy Task Force indicate numerous conversations between Cheney and industry representatives, including ExxonMobil, regarding the formulation of U.S. energy policy. Because many documents have been withheld to date, the extent to which ExxonMobil influenced the Bush-Cheney energy plan has yet to be determined. The company admitted however, that it was involved in the drafting of the Bush-Cheney energy plan. Vice President Cheney also headed the White House task force on global warming.
Smoking Gun-The Leaked Memo
In March 2002, the media obtained a leaked copy of an ExxonMobil memo to the White House regarding U.S. climate policy and ongoing proceedings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a multinational body charged with evaluating global warming evidence. The memo, from ExxonMobil's senior Environmental Advisor, Arthur G. Randol III, asks the Bush administration to use its influence to oust Robert Watson from his post of Chair of the IPCC. Dr. Watson, an internationally respected atmospheric chemist and director of the World Bank's Environmental Department, had been outspoken about the urgency for action to solve global warming and criticized the United States for its lack of action. The memo, dated February 2001, charged Dr. Watson with using leaked drafts of the IPCC's climate reports to further his "personal agenda" and further inquired, "Can Watson be replaced now at the request of the U.S.?" At the request of the United States, Watson was removed from his job at the IPCC a year later.
The leaked memo also included a list of "recommendations," including the removal of other specific people from U.S. government offices and the appointment of climate change skeptics to key positions within the Administration. All of the listed people, including Dr. Michael MacCracken, then Director, Office of the U.S. Global Change Research Program, subsequently quit or were removed from their positions.
Funding an Anti-Kyoto Protocol Campaign
ExxonMobil has spent millions of dollars over the past decade to undermine efforts to solve global warming, including the cornerstone of climate change negotations - the Kyoto Protocol - while heavily lobbying the U.S. government to derail global warming action here in the U.S. ExxonMobil has been criticized for funding the most visible and notorious skeptics of global warming and launching a multi-million dollar campaign against the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol.
On April 1998, ExxonMobil took part in the planning of a $6 million public relations campaign. The goal of the American Petroleum Institute's Global Climate Science Communications Action Plan was to discredit the Kyoto Protocol. An internal memo stated that the campaign would seek to reframe global warming science debate to focus on "uncertainty" and that victory would be achieved when "those promoting the Kyoto Treaty on the basis of extant science appear to be out of touch with reality." The plan was to measure success by the number of students, teachers, reporters and news outlets reached by their efforts.
On April 17, 2001 the company placed an advertisement in several newspapers claiming that the Kyoto Protocol is "fatally flawed" and "fatally politicized."
In March 2001, President Bush took the lead from the oil giant and announced that the U.S. would not ratify the "fatally flawed" treaty. However, in spite of the United States' inaction on this treaty, 43 countries have now ratified the Kyoto Protocol-soon to become international law.