FReepmail me to get on or off
- Corporate Lemming 4 Alarm Alert -
Posted on 02/09/2007 10:05:09 AM PST by thackney
Big Oil behemoth Exxon Mobil Corp. has dropped any pretense of questioning whether global warming is real. Now the company is seeking to position itself as an active player in efforts to lower greenhouse gases.
"The appropriate debate isn't on whether climate is changing, but rather should be on what we should be doing about it," Kenneth Cohen, Exxon's vice president of public affairs, told reporters on a conference call Thursday.
The call came less than a week after an international panel of hundreds of scientists said new research showed global warming was "unequivocal" and that human activity was primarily responsible for the most significant factor in temperature change — greenhouse gases.
"Climate is changing. It's a serious issue. The evidence is there," Cohen said on the call, which was arranged in part to allow Exxon to state its position on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's report.
When pressed, Cohen said "there is no question that human activity is the source of carbon dioxide emissions," and emphasized that Exxon is working with various policy groups and universities to find ways to produce energy while lowering greenhouse gases.
Cohen's statements appeared to be the most definitive yet in the company's effort to show Exxon cares about climate change and wants to do something about it.
It's a far cry from former CEO Lee Raymond's rigid stance on the issue in the late 1990s, when he questioned science that linked fossil fuels to global warming. Raymond acknowledged in a 2000 speech that climate change caused by carbon dioxide emissions was a "legitimate concern."
'Certainly have mellowed' Upon succeeding Raymond as CEO last year, Rex Tillerson labeled climate change a serious issue. He later said the company needed to soften its public image and better explain its stance on global warming. "They certainly have mellowed somewhat," said Art Smith, chairman and CEO of John S. Herold, an energy research and consulting firm. "They took a pretty hard stance that everyone else was wrong about this."
Chris Miller, a global warming campaigner for Greenpeace, said Exxon had little choice but to embrace climate change as genuine because too much scientific data exists for the company to credibly say otherwise.
"It just became too difficult for them to say that with a straight face given everything we know," Miller said. "They are finessing this position, and they have done so since Tillerson took over."
Cohen, who oversees Exxon's charitable giving, also addressed Exxon's funding for think tanks.
The company came under fire when environmental groups said that one think tank that received Exxon funding, the American Enterprise Institute, had offered scientists $10,000 to critique the IPCC study. AEI said it was focused on global warming policy, not science.
But Cohen said Thursday that Exxon has stopped funding a "small handful" of think tanks involved in climate change policy discussions because the ensuing criticism was a distraction.
"We did that because we felt some of the attention being devoted to the issue was diverting attention from what we wanted to be focusing on," which Cohen said was a need for global action to reduce emissions.
Not focusing on renewables In a speech last year, Tillerson promoted reducing emissions through coal-fired plants that spit fewer gases into the air and more fuel-efficient vehicles. The company also is studying the viability of carbon storage and dedicating scientists to find technologies to cut emissions. Cohen said that's Exxon's focus because 80 percent of the world's energy comes from oil, natural gas and coal, a situation that isn't expected to change in the next 20 years despite the growth of renewables backed by government subsidies.
Sherri Stuewer, Exxon's global vice president of health, safety and environment, who joined Cohen on the call, said Exxon isn't seeking to pour money into renewables despite such efforts by its peers because they aren't currently viable without subsidies. Stuewer said Exxon has had solar and nuclear initiatives in the past that proved unprofitable.
"Our interest is in being in energy options that are successful," she said.
Give us money. We'll say whatever you want.
Doesn't anyone have a brain or spine?!
Let us keep our money. We'll say whatever you want.
Sounds like the congress
And....?
["Climate is changing. It's a serious issue. The evidence is there," Cohen said]
The evidence is WHERE? Show me!
"The appropriate debate isn't on whether climate is changing"
Why isn't it? What the HELL is this?
but rather should be on what we should be doing about it," Kenneth Cohen, Exxon's vice president of public affairs, told reporters on a conference call Thursday.
So is climate changing or not?
Are they running scared since Hillary threatened to take their profits?
Isn't it amazing how a little congressional intimidation can make an oil company see the light about GW?
Exxon: Please Hillary!! Don't take our profits!!
I guess I'll avoid their gas pumps as much as possible from now on.
Bring on the global warming! It's frickin' freezing outside!
Somebody's been watching Jesse Jackson and taking notes.
breathe in, breathe out
wax on, wax off
And....?
Yeah, not exactly a controversial admission. We know the earth has warmed some and man produces CO2 through the burning of fossil fuels.
Correct. This is how the chinese govt. operates and this is how the US is becoming and after Hillary is elected in 08, this is how we all shall behave.
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