{"id":1885,"date":"2019-03-21T16:44:21","date_gmt":"2019-03-21T15:44:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/?p=1885"},"modified":"2019-11-06T09:33:40","modified_gmt":"2019-11-06T08:33:40","slug":"questions-exxon-eu-parliament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/issues\/climate-energy\/1885\/questions-exxon-eu-parliament\/","title":{"rendered":"Three questions EXXON doesn\u2019t want you to ask"},"content":{"rendered":"

In response to a\u00a0petition from Food & Water Europe<\/a>, ExxonMobil is at the center of yet another inquiry into its role in promoting climate change denial. This time in Brussels, the seat of the European Union. And the consequences for the company are getting real.<\/p>\n

On 21 March, two European Parliament committees held a joint hearing into climate change denial and invited Exxon CEO, Darren Woods, to participate. But he refused to show up or send someone else on the company\u2019s behalf.<\/p>\n

\"Action<\/p>\n

By not attending the hearing, Exxon lobbyists may end up being banned from the European Parliament. But Exxon\u2019s attempt to avoid public questioning is no surprise. It did the\u00a0same thing<\/a>\u00a0when the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines requested Exxon and 46 other companies to be part of an inquiry about climate-related human rights abuses.<\/p>\n

And let\u2019s not forget\u00a0Exxon is also facing<\/a>\u00a0an investigation by the Massachusetts Attorney General, and an ever-growing number of climate cost recovery lawsuits being filed in the US by cities, counties, states, and even a\u00a0private fishermen\u2019s association<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Recent\u00a0research<\/a>\u00a0shows Exxon has spent over \u20ac35 million since 2010 in lobbying EU institutions to delay and weaken essential climate action. But the company\u2019s influence doesn\u2019t end there, Exxon can also rely on a number of major trade associations to lobby on its behalf.<\/p>\n

Exxon shouldn\u2019t get away with climate denial. Join us in tweeting @ExxonMobil one of these 3 simple questions:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Should @ExxonMobil be banned from lobbying the European Parliament for refusing to show up at the climate denial hearing? #ExxonKnew #ExxonKnewEU<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In 2017,\u00a0Monsanto<\/a>\u00a0(now a Bayer subsidiary) refused to attend an EU Parliament hearing on allegations of regulatory interference for the continued use of glyphosate, a key ingredient in the company\u2019s profitable RoundUp weedkiller. European parliamentarians removed the company\u2019s privileges to lobby based on rules that allow for\u00a0revocation of parliament access<\/a>\u00a0for companies ignoring summons.<\/p>\n

    Green European parliamentarian Molly Scott-Cato is pushing to apply these same rules to Exxon. It\u2019s time to protect European policy-making and ban lobbying by fossil fuel companies \u2013 just as the World Health Organisation did with public health officials and the tobacco lobby.<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. When did @ExxonMobil know about climate risks, and what did the company do about it? #ExxonKnew #ExxonKnewEU<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      The oil industry, including Exxon, has\u00a0known for well over 50 years<\/a>\u00a0that burning fossil fuels would lead to climate change. In fact, ExxonMobil (then Humble Oil) led some of the world\u2019s earliest scientific research into climate change, with\u00a0findings<\/a>\u00a0that acknowledged the link between fossil fuels and atmospheric carbon dioxide as early as 1957.<\/p>\n

      Instead of raising the alarm, fossil fuel companies spent millions to deceive the public and policymakers as part of a\u00a0massive scheme<\/a>\u00a0to delay actions that could reduce demand for their products.<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Will @ExxonMobil finally take responsibility for the costs of climate change and adapt its business model to prevent the worst impacts? #ExxonKnew #ExxonKnewEU<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        Governments lost more than a generation worth of time to act on climate change because of the fossil fuel industry\u2019s efforts to delay action. Now communities must adapt to protect people, especially those most vulnerable. And the fossil fuel industry\u2019s lies are hurting us all.<\/p>\n

        While\u00a0Exxon is finally communicating climate change poses risks<\/a>, words alone are not enough. Fossil fuel companies must demonstrate that business models match their stated positions. There is evidence that, if unchecked, the current plans of fossil fuel producers could contribute to\u00a0overshooting<\/a>\u00a0the temperature rise limits set out in the Paris climate agreement, causing a severe environmental breakdown.<\/p>\n

        Climate denial is not an option and those who disingenuously promote it need to be accountable. People and communities are\u00a0using the law to push back<\/a>\u00a0on governments and corporations, to lead the way towards sustainable economies.<\/p>\n

        Make a difference. Don\u2019t let @ExxonMobil get away with climate denial. Ask the company any of these questions by tagging @ExxonMobil on Twitter.<\/strong><\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

        Sebastian Mang is the Greenpeace European Unit climate and energy policy advisor<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        In response to a\u00a0petition from Food & Water Europe, ExxonMobil is at the center of yet another inquiry into its role in promoting climate change denial. This time in Brussels,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":1886,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[22,29,39],"p4-page-type":[54],"class_list":["post-1885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate-energy","tag-climatechange","tag-fossilfuels","tag-transparency","p4-page-type-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1885"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1885\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1888,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1885\/revisions\/1888"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1885"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=1885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}