woods ceo exxon

oops see darren . this is main

defect alec, shareholders agitate for?

exxonknewS 12 23

...“Oil and gas companies are under pressure, desperately trying to preserve their social license through recycled pledges,” said David Tong, Global Industry Campaign Manager at Oil Change International, which last year published a report finding that Exxon’s climate commitments are “grossly insufficient” to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement.

Woods and his fellow oil company representatives are also using COP to push for unproven technologies that will prolong the lifespan of climate-wrecking fossil fuels. In an interview with Bloomberg at COP, Woods said the energy transition would require an assortment of “solutions” — including hydrogen and carbon capture — and “we need big companies to help with that.”

Woods rejected the IEA’s recent assessment of carbon capture as an “illusion,” telling Reuters that “you could say that about electric vehicles, about wind, about solar.” But according to the IEA, “The key actions required to bend the emissions curve sharply downwards by 2030 are well understood, most often cost effective and are taking place at an accelerating rate. The scaling up of clean energy is the main factor behind a decline of fossil fuel demand of over 25% this decade.”

Yet unlike the billions it invests in carbon capture, Exxon is spending almost nothing on renewable sources of energy, while lobbying against the transition away from its core products.

“It’s no surprise that Exxon is pushing for the continued use of fossil fuels,” said Jessica Green, Professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto. “Exxon is in a fight for its life. Real progress on climate change isn’t about more carbon markets or net zero pledges, it’s about putting the oil and gas industry out of business.”

A larger strategy

Woods’ deflections at COP are part of a larger strategy of “corporate issues management,” said Supran, which “the fossil fuel industry has been pioneering for decades.”

“It means having your fingers in all the pies, anticipating future threats to your business and neutralizing them through decades of 360-degree public affairs strategies,” he said.

Exxon has been working to shift the narrative outside of COP, too. “On November 30, the first day of COP 28, The New York Times included a full-page greenwashing ad from ExxonMobil,” Brad Johnson documented in Hill Heat on Monday. “Reuters coverage of Al Gore’s criticism of ExxonMobil’s presence at COP 28 was smothered by greenwashing ads from ExxonMobil. The Punchbowl News political newsletter today is Presented by ExxonMobil.” Yesterday’s Power Switch newsletter from Politico was Presented by ExxonMobil, too.

While the oil giant’s greenwashing may have ramped up around COP, it’s also a years-long affair — aided in large part by many of the same media outlets interviewing Woods at the conference. A major analysis of Big Oil’s advertising between October 2020 and October 2023 found that “many of the world’s most trusted English-language news publications help fossil fuel companies mislead readers about topics like the promise of carbon capture, the potential of ‘renewable biogas,’ and how much the industry contributes to the energy transition,” according to Amy Westervelt and Matthew Green.

The analysis, published by Drilled and DeSmog this week, found that Bloomberg Media Studios last year created a video for Exxon promoting carbon capture and hydrogen; Politico organized 37 e-mail campaigns for Exxon; and Exxon sponsored more than 100 editions of Washington Post newsletters in 2022 alone, as just a few examples.:}:

Ultimately, it’s up to the media, policymakers, and other major institutions to determine whether the oil companies still responsible for fueling climate catastrophe are allowed to have a platform to stand on — or whether, like Big Tobacco, their time to influence the debate about their products’ harm is finally up.exxonknewS 12 23

Yet unlike the billions it invests in carbon capture, Exxon is spending almost nothing on renewable sources of energy, while lobbying against the transition away from its core products.

A larger strategy

Woods’ deflections at COP are part of a larger strategy of “corporate issues management,” said Supran, which “the fossil fuel industry has been pioneering for decades.”

“It means having your fingers in all the pies, anticipating future threats to your business and neutralizing them through decades of 360-degree public affairs strategies,” he said.

---

In Boston speech, Exxon Mobil CEO says he’s still betting big on oil - The Boston Globe

no lnx

In Boston speech, Exxon Mobil CEO says he’s still betting big on oil

Darren Woods says the oil giant will double down on fracking technology, but brings little to the table on renewables

By Jon Chesto Globe Staff,Updated November 1, 2023, 4:52 p.m.

Exxon Mobil chairman and CEO Darren W. Woods spoke Wednesday at the Boston College Chief Executives Club, which met at the Boston Harbor Hotel.

Exxon Mobil Corp. chief executive Darren Woods knows his company’s pending purchase of rival Pioneer Natural Resources is a $60 billion bet on the future of oil. On Wednesday, Woods defended that bet during a Boston business leaders luncheon. Oil, he said, needs to be a big part of the energy mix for a long time to come.

Woods held forth with former State Street chief executive Jay Hooley — a member of Exxon’s board — at Wednesday’s meeting of the Boston College Chief Executives Club. The Pioneer deal, announced on Oct. 11, was top of mind. The acquisition will more than double Exxon’s acreage in the Permian Basin, an oil-rich region that stretches across the Texas-New Mexico border. Exxon is also about to complete another important acquisition, the nearly $5 billion purchase of pipeline operator Denbury; that deal is expected to close on Thursday.

One thing you won’t see Woods buying: a major wind or solar company. He made it clear to the Boston crowd that he doesn’t believe electricity generation fits with Exxon’s core business strengths. The Texas-based company will remain focused on molecules and not electrons. Translation: He’s sticking with fuels, and steering clear of electricity.

Woods talked about how Exxon was late to the game to invest in fracking — the process of blasting through rock to extract more oil and gas from the ground — and tried to catch up with the purchase of XTO Energy in 2010. More recently, Exxon has harnessed its immense research and development operations to build on that acquisition by improving its fracking technology, considered crucial to unlocking the full potential of the Permian’s oil reserves. (The acreage that Exxon and Pioneer control there essentially equal an estimated 15 to 20 years worth of oil inventory.)

“Over the course of the last five years, we have come up with unique approaches and technologies for more effectively recovering the resource out of this rock that looks like granite,” Woods said. “We’re getting more recovery at less cost. That’s magic in this business.”

Exxon works hard to keep America addicted to fossil fuels

Chevron buys Hess for $53 billion, second megadeal in the oil patch this month as energy prices soar

Exxon Mobil buys Pioneer Natural in $59.5 billion deal with energy prices surging

Woods didn’t directly address the calls on Wednesday from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and other Senate Democrats to scrutinize the antitrust implications of the Exxon Mobil-Pioneer merger. (The Democrats also want another recent oil megamerger, Chevron’s $53 billion deal to buy Hess, to get similar scrutiny.) But Woods did pledge that the Pioneer deal will help lower oil costs — a potential tripping point in any antitrust scrutiny by the Biden administration.

“We’re going to recover more oil at a lower cost, which is good for the US economy,” Woods said. “It’s good for US energy security.”

Signage for Exxon Mobil at the company's booth during the Gastech Exhibition & Conference in Singapore on Sept. 5.

Signage for Exxon Mobil at the company's booth during the Gastech Exhibition & Conference in Singapore on Sept. 5.Nicky Loh/Bloomberg

Hooley noted that oil companies have been pilloried for not doing more to help with the clean energy transition away from fossil fuels.

Woods’s response? Those critics of oil and gas will be proven wrong.

“That’s a very superficial way of thinking about it,” Woods said. “We definitely think wind and solar will be an important part [of the country’s energy portfolio]. But they’re not sufficient in and of themselves. ... There is a somewhat superficial view that [if] you’re an energy company, you should go into wind and solar.”

That won’t be happening at Exxon, at least not under Woods’s watch. “My view is, we don’t bring a lot to that space,” Woods said. “We’re not an electron company. We’re a molecule company.”

“Molecules,” as Woods put it, can help with the clean energy transition. He mentioned carbon capture — Denbury, for example, specializes in pipelines used for transferring and storing carbon dioxide underground — as well as hydrogen and biofuels.

“We need as many solutions out there as possible,” Woods added. “We got very focused as a society on a narrow narrative that said, you’ve got to get rid of oil and gas.”

Policy makers, Woods said, should be more focused on managing the costs of this transition. Many low- and zero-carbon solutions, he said, aren’t economically practical at a large scale, particularly at the global level. While the federal government is providing subsidies for carbon capture and similar technologies, Woods said subsidies should not go on forever.

“I think of it as a catalyst,” Woods added. “Without market forces, we’re not going to get the best answers.”

Jon Chesto can be reached at jon.chesto@globe.com. Follow him @jonchesto.

Boston Globe Today

omg going on offense?! std/key API talking pt?

jj comm dr an 12 22

Fresh off posting the highest quarterly profit in its history, the U.S.-based fossil fuel giant ExxonMobil sued the European Union on Wednesday in an attempt to stop the bloc from imposing its recently approved windfall tax targeting major oil and gas companies.

The Financial Times, which first reported the new lawsuit, noted that the challenge takes aim at the European Council's "legal authority to impose the new tax—a power historically reserved for sovereign countries—and its use of emergency powers to secure member states' approval for the measure."

:{"The new tax is due to take effect from December 31 and will apply a levy of at least 33% on any taxable profits in 2022-23 that are 20% or more above average profits between 2018 and 2021," the newspaper explained.

In a statement, Exxon spokesperson Casey Norton insisted the company recognizes that sky-high energy costs are "weighing heavily on families and businesses" but claimed the tax would "undermine investor confidence, discourage investment and increase reliance on imported energy."

Reuters reported Wednesday that Exxon's chief financial officer has estimated the E.U.'s windfall tax could cost the corporation around $2 billion through the end of next year—a fraction of the company's 2022 profits.

Approved in late September amid a mounting cost-of-living crisis across Europe, the windfall tax was presented as an effort to generate additional revenue to "provide financial support to households and companies" struggling with high energy costs.Oil and gas companies like Exxon have been accused of exploiting global energy market chaos spurred by Russia's war on Ukraine to hike prices and pad their bottom lines.

In late October, Exxon announced it brought in $19.7 billion in profits from July to September, its largest-ever quarterly haul. The company also announced it would raise its dividend and expand its share buyback program, rewarding wealthy investors as consumers continue to face elevated prices at the pump.

According to a recent filing, Exxon has also been rewarding its top executives,boosting the annual salary of CEO Darren Woods from $1.70 million to $1.88 million for the coming year.

much on greenwash ccs and algae

https://oversight.house.gov/sites/democrats.oversight.house.gov/files/2022.09.14%20FINAL%20COR%20Supplemental%20Memo.pdf

p 13

[CCS] underperformed or failed.48Exxon recently announced ten potential new facilities around the

world. 49

Exxon spent $86 million in 2010 to expand its carbon capture facility in Wyoming and

plans to spend another $400 million on a further expansion of the facility. 50 Exxon claimed $240

million in carbon capture tax credits over the last decade of the facility’s use. However, experts

estimate that Exxon may only be capturing less than 1% of its total emissions through carbon

capture technology.51

In a May 2018 email exchange,Exxon CEO Darren Woods and Exxon’s Vice President

of Corporate Strategic Planning, Mr. Wojnar, discussed “emissions avoided” through carbon

capture technology. Mr. Wojnar wrote to Mr. Woods that he was “[c]oming back on your

question on GHG emissions avoided,” including through carbon capture technology, and

provided “options for how to respond to a query” on this topic. Mr. Wojnar suggested that Mr.

Woods say that “over the last decade, ExxonMobil has taken action to reduce GHG emissions by

approximately 75 million tons.”52 In reality, nearly all the carbon dioxide Exxon has captured

through CCS has been sold to other fossil fuel companies to inject into their depleted oil fields to

help extract even more oil. As a result, the carbon captured by Exxon through CCS technology

likely has not meaningfully reduced total carbon emissions.53

Exxon has heavily advertised its efforts to develop carbon capture technology. Three

carbon capture television ads from 2016 through 2019 aired 9,058 times nationally, generated 4.1

billion impressions, and are estimated to have cost Exxon over $68 million to run. 54 Draft ...

Chevron’s and Exxon’s Attempt to Use OGCI to Greenwash Big Oil

The Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI) is a voluntary organization co-led by

members from the oil and gas industry and environmental groups. Its stated intent is “to deliver

tangible, transparent and integrated contributions to climate change solutions.”76

Documents obtained by the Committee show that in 2019, employees from Exxon and

Chevron edited a messaging document from OGCI ahead of the annual Conference of Parties to

the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The document was meant to

“serve as the basis for communication & press release as well as talking points for the CEO

event.” The documents suggest that despite several attempts to weaken the language, OGCI

pushed back, saying that Exxon’s and Chevron’s CEOs already committed to the stronger

language. The edits from Exxon and Chevron attempted to weaken OGCI’s ambition on targets

for achieving net-zero emissions, methane emissions, carbon intensity, carbon capture

implementation, among other things. 77

In particular, a memorandum from Peter Trelenberg, Exxon’s Manager of Environmental

Policy & Planning, to CEO Darren Woods highlighted “critical edits” proposed by Exxon and

noted that “Chevron has expressed that they are generally aligned with these edits.” Among

other issues, the memo to Exxon’s CEO addresses the following:

• Avoiding a commitment to advocate for the Paris Agreement. Regarding OGCI’s

“Statement on responding to the climate challenge,” Mr. Trelenberg wrote:

“Need to remove reference to Paris Agreement as support for the Paris

Agreement goals and member company advocacy are separate concepts and not

directly related. Creating a tie between our advocacy/engagements and the Paris

Agreement could create a potential commitment to advocate on the Paris

Agreement goals.”

• Avoiding a commitment to advocate for climate policies that Exxon and Chevron

claim to support. The memo raised a concern that one OGCI annual report

“includes explicit commitment for OGCI companies to align their advocacy with

their climate related positions. We have raised concerns with this linkage

through previous comments.”

• Refusing to commit to enhanced climate-related governance.The memo

continued, “Need to remove language that potentially commits members to

enhanced climate-related governance, strategy, risk management, and

performance metrics and targets.” ESG?!

• Concern about a commitment to reduce downstream emissions. Discussing an

OGCI “September Announcement package,” the memo states: “The carbon

...

an 10 21

no lnx

There it is': Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez gets energy exec to admit his efforts to influence Congress

Alex Henderson October 28, 2021

Sen. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York City, a major proponent of green energy, has been arguing that the fossil fuel industry has way too much influence on lawmakers — and she found evidence of that influence when questioning ExxonMobile CEO Darren Woods during a recent hearing.

Referring to the Build Back Better Act of 2021, Ocasio-Cortez asked Woods, "Have you participated in any calls with members of Congress throughout this process of reconciliation and infrastructure?" — to which Woods responded, "I have."

AOC: Have you participated in any calls with members of Congress throughout this process of reconciliation and infr… https://t.co/RxBSQyC5u4

— Acyn (@Acyn) 1635447796.0

Following the hearing, Ocasio-Cortez tweeted:

And there it is. https://t.co/JNLmLEBC2L

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1635447321.0

omfg

msnbc? calls it rommney exxon bill, not the bipart infra

https://www.alternet.org/2021/07/senior-exxonmobil-lobbyist/

raw story

Channel 4 in the U.K. published a startling expose on ExxonMobil's lobbyists who revealed the top most important U.S. Senators who are the ones behind any legislation that might hurt the oil industry.

While many oil companies are diversifying with natural gas, it appears ExxonMobil is going all-in battling to keep "big oil" alive and well.

"Keith McCoy is a senior ExxonMobil lobbyist on Capitol Hill and has represented the company in its liaison with the U.S. Congress for the last eight years," explained the report.

"Did we aggressively fight against some of the science? Yes. Did we hide our science? Absolutely not," said McCoy on camera. "Did we join some of these shadow groups to work against some of the early efforts? Yes, that's true. But there's nothing, there's nothing illegal about that. We were looking out for our investments. We were looking out for our shareholders."

McCoy compared his work with elected officials to fishing with ExxonMobil who supplies the "bait" before it "reels in" the official on issues like a carbon tax, electric cars, taxation and infrastructure.

"When you have an opportunity to talk to a member of Congress, I liken it to fishing, right? You know you have bait, you throw that bait out. And they say: 'Oh, you want to talk about infrastructure, yeah,'" McCoy continued. "And then you start to reel them in and you start to have these conversations about federal leasing programs, you start to have these conversations about a carbon tax.You know, it's all these opportunities that you use and to use the fishing analogy again just to kind of reel them in."

"I make sure I get them the right information that they need so they look good. And then they help me out. They're a captive audience. They know they need you. And I need them," McCoy also said.

He went on to explain that lobbyists aim to have close relationships with officials.

"You want to be able to go to the chief… and say we need congressman so and so to be able to either introduce this bill, we need him to make a floor statement, we need him to send a letter. You name it, we've asked for everything," he said.

But it was the shocking revelation that he has 11 U.S. Senators on the hook.

"Senator Shelley Moore Capito, Senator Joe Manchin, Senator Kyrsten Sinema, Senator Jon Tester, Senator Maggie Hassan, Senator John Barrasso, Senator John Cornyn, Senator Steve Daines, Senator Chris Coons, Senator Mark Kelly and Senator Marco Rubio," were all cited.

He went on to explain that the last thing they want is to appear in a public hearing before Congress where the American people can see.

"We don't want it to be us, to have these conversations, especially in a hearing. It's getting our associations to step in and have those conversations and answer those tough questions and be for, the lack of a better term, the whipping boy for some of these members of congress," McCoy confessed.

"There was something we were working on earlier this week where we, where our CEO was invited to a hearing from a member of congress who we know is just going to rip him to shreds when he goes there. So, we look at it and we say: well, why us?" he asked.

See the video below and read the full story at Channel 4:

https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/exxon-lobbyist-duped-by-greenpeace-says-climate-policy-was-ploy-ceo-condemns-2021-06-30/

wASHINGTON, June 30 (Reuters) - A lobbyist for Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) said the company supports a carbon tax publicly because the plan to curb climate change would never gain enough political support to be adopted, according to an interview aired on Wednesday.

Britain's Channel 4 network aired the interview ofsenior Washington-based lobbyist Keith McCoy it obtained from an investigative arm of environmental campaigner Greenpeace UK, in footage that drew the ire of Exxon's chairman and chief executive.

Greenpeace activists posed as headhunters to conduct separate Zoom interviews with McCoy and a former Washington lobbyist for Exxon, Dan Easley.

"There is not an appetite for a carbon tax. It's a nonstarter," McCoy said to the Greenpeace activists. "And the cynical side of me says, 'Yeah, we kind of know that.' But it gives us a talking point."

McCoy did not immediately respond to a request for comment. He said on LinkedIn he was "deeply embarrassed by my comments and that I allowed myself to fall for Greenpeace’s deception." He apologized to colleagues at Exxon in that post.

Darren Woods, Exxon's chairman and chief executive, had sharp words on McCoy's comments. "We condemn the statements and are deeply apologetic for them, including comments regarding interactions with elected officials," Woods said in a release.

"We were shockedby these interviews and stand by our commitments to working on finding solutions to climate change," Woods said.

Asked whether McCoy faces disciplinary action, Exxon spokesperson Casey Norton declined to comment saying it was a private personnel matter.

The footage comes a month after Exxon shareholders, frustrated by weak returns and the U.S. oil company's record on climate change, shook up the company when they elected three of four nominated directors from activist shareholder Engine No. 1 to Exxon's board. read more

ExxonMobil in 2018 touted its investment of $1 million over two years into a carbon tax advocacy campaign in Congress. Its annual lobbying budget is $12 million.

Exxon Director Ursula Burns said at a Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas virtual event this month that the company's response to environmental criticisms "has not been well done." read more

McCoy and Easley spoke candidly to the Greenpeace activists on their strategies and positions on a range of issues,including President Joe Biden's initial $2 trillion infrastructure package, which they said they worked on to remove major climate provisions and push back against proposals to raise corporate taxes.

Easley said the Biden infrastructure plan contained clean energy measures that would "accelerate the transition that I think four years from now - it is going to be difficult to unwind them."

Easley, whose LinkedIn page says he started a new job in February, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Reporting by Valerie Volcovici and Timothy Gardner in Washington; Editing by Matthew Lewis and William Mallard

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

https://www.crediblecarbon.com/news-and-info/news/fossildespite-emergency-belligerent-exxon-refuses-to-act-on-climate-at-agm-oil-change-international/

Despite Emergency, Belligerent Exxon Refuses to Act on Climate at AGM – Oil Change International

MAY 28, 2020

BY ANDY ROWELL BLOG POST C: 350.org

Yesterday, Big Oil behemoth Exxon held its Annual General Meeting, where the company and its shareholders once again fundamentally flunked the climate test.

For years, activists and progressive shareholders have been trying to get the company to act on climate and divest from oil and gas and transition swiftly into renewables.

They have pointed to the fact that Exxon has known for decades about climate change but still carried on drilling, whilst funding a huge network of right-wing groups to deny the science over climate.

But Exxon is an oil company to its black core. Other oil majors, such as Shell and BP , may be trying at least make the symbolic gesture of going carbon neutral by 2050, even though critics say the plans are flawed and not ambitious enough. :{But no so Exxon, it cannot be bothered to even do that.

The company is still blinded by a “*drill, baby, drill”* mentality that is hurtling us toward climate catastrophe. }:It is also losing its shareholders billions in investments as the company’s share price has plummeted due to COVID-19.

Exxon still has the most radical expansion plan of any oil major, despite a longstanding campaign of investor groups to bring the company in line with climate goals.

The Challenge establishes a clear “climate-safe” boundary for any financing to the fossil fuel industry. It outlines simply how companies such as Exxon should only be eligible for investment if they commit to stop expansion of fossil fuels and release a detailed plan for a phase out.

One of the organizations signing on was Oil Change International (OCI). Hannah McKinnon , the Energy Transitions and Futures Program Director from OCI, said: “Maintaining a safe climate requires an ambitious just transition away from fossil fuel production starting now.” McKinnon added that “New production is not Paris-compatible and investors should plan a fast exit from any company that says otherwise.”

The disinvestment campaign has been joined by BlackRock, the world’s largest fund manager, often seen as a climate villain itself, which is one of the company’s largest shareholders. The investment company, which owns about 5 per cent of Exxon, lodged multiple votes against the oil giant over the oil company’s failure to make progress on its climate change targets.

BlackRockalso voted in favor of a shareholder motion that proposes splitting the role of chief executive and chairman, something campaigners have been calling for decades trying to make the oil company more accountable for its disastrous climate policy.

However, according to *Reuters* under CEO Darren Woods, the company “blocked six climate resolutions from this year’s ballot.” Moreover, only a third of shareholders backed the proposal to split the CEO and Chairman.

This means that Exxon, which has been bruised, battered, and bloodied by a catastrophic collapse in the oil price, and is hemorrhaging money, wants us all to drive over a climate cliff too. It is reckless corporate behavior, which the executives must know will cost lives.

Indeed with a timing that is deeply ironic, the morning of the AGM, the UK Met Office’s Hadley Centre, one of the leading climate research institutes in the world, concluded that the “human fingerprint on the climate is now unmistakable” after 30 years of tracking the impact of humans on our changing climate.

Peter Stott, a Professor and expert on climate attribution science at the Hadley Centre, told the *Guardian* : “The climate now is completely different from what we had 30 years ago. It is completely outside the bounds of possibility in natural variation.”

He added “Reality has proven that what we were saying 20 to 30 years ago was right. As scientists, that is vindication… The worry is that we are now taking risks globally that we don’t fully understand… there will be no winners of climate change if we continue.”

And more than most it is Exxon’s dirty fingerprints all over our climate catastrophe. By the time the Hadley Centre was set up in 1990, Exxon knew that its emissions were causing climate change. It could have acted. But it did not. Instead it did the opposite and funded decades of denial. By doing so its finger have slowly tightened around our collective necks. It is time to break their dangerous grip before it is too late.

https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2018/07/12/alec-extreme-exxon-long-term-alec-board-member-dumps-alec-climate-denial-policy

armiak mb

ExxonMobil, the largest oil and gas company in the world, will not renew its membership in the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) after a split within the corporate lobbying group over how to address climate change, Bloomberg reported earlier today.

Exxon’s exit follows a disagreement over a resolution introduced in December by the Heartland Institute, a Chicago-based think tank that denies climate change, that would have asked the federal government to reconsider its findings that greenhouse gasses are harmful to human health.

The EPA did its spadework and laid out the scientific foundation of the endangerment findings in over 200 pages of technical documentation in 2009. Former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt failed to reconsider those findings, much to the disappointment of the Koch crowd.

Although large companies like Ford, Google, Microsoft, Coca-Cola and many others have cut ties with ALEC, few have given and supported ALEC as much as Exxon has. Exxon was listed as a “major contributor” to ALEC as far back as 1981 and has given ALEC millions over the years to promote its corporate agenda. Exxon has also consistently served on ALEC’s Private Enterprise Board.

REACTION TO THE ANNOUNCEMENT

“This is a major loss for ALEC. It’s not just the financial support that Exxon provides, which has been significant over the years. This also represents a growing split between oil and gas majors that are increasingly concerned about their public image, and groups like ALEC that still regularly promote debates about climate science on their agenda,” said Nick Surgey, co-director of Documented.

“Exxon’s departure should send a strong message to ALEC that it’s extreme agenda and undemocratic, secretive operations have no place in American politics,” said Jay Riestenberg, campaigns & media strategist at Common Cause.

“It’s very significant when a giant of the fossil fuels world thinks that ALEC ‘s denial of the existence of climate change is intolerable. I hope that other responsible corporations that are still members of ALEC will follow suit,” said Wisconsin State Rep. Chris Taylor, who has attended ALEC events and written about its climate denial positions.

With regard to ALEC and the Koch brothers’ hostility to renewable energy and public transportation, Taylor said, “Their positions belong in the dinosaur age. We need to be investing in transit and renewables, and they just keep throwing up road block after road block.”

“Other major oil companies, including BP, Royal Dutch Shell and ConocoPhillips, left ALEC years ago. It’s about time ExxonMobil finally did, too,” said Kathy Mulvey, fossil fuel accountability campaign director at the Union of Concerned Scientists, in a formal statement. “But the company has a lot more to do to set things straight.” Exxon continues to fund the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers, both of which continue to do battle with groups and regulators attempting to address climate change, Mulvey said.

EXXON USED ALEC TO PROMOTE CLIMATE CHANGE DENIAL FOR DECADES

In October 2016, the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) and Common Cause filed additional evidence for their 2012 IRS whistleblower complaint against ALEC detailing how Exxon had pumped $1.7 million into the front group “to promote the oil giant’s climate denial policies and legislative agenda, in gross violation of ALEC’s 501(c)(3) charitable status.”

ALEC claims to spend zero dollars on lobbying but the complaint showed that Exxon had deliberately used ALEC over two decades as its lobbying arm to advance its position on cap-and-trade policies, the Keystone Pipeline, the Obama Clean Power Plan, and fracking.

CMD brought this concern to the attention of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in January 2017 when ExxonMobil’s former CEO, Rex Tillerson, was nominated to be President Trump’s Secretary of State.

“For years, Exxon used ALEC as a key asset in a fossil fuel industry campaign to sow uncertainty about climate science, undermine international climate treaties and block legislation to reduce emissions,” said Arn Pearson, executive director of the Center for Media and Democracy, who drafted the 2016 IRS complaint. “And New York and other states have been investigating Exxon for its role in hiding evidence of its climate impact from shareholders and the public. So it is ironic that ALEC’s anti-science stance has apparently become too extreme even for Exxon.”

Exxon did not respond to CMD requests for comment.

...Some of the biggest bets taken by his predecessor Rex Tillerson, now the U.S. secretary of state, have resulted in billions of dollars in write-downs amid falling production and a stock price that has long lagged peers.

That leaves Woods facing the prospect of slow growth and billions of dollars in new spending that could weigh on results for years. In 2018, the company plans capital spending of about $24 billion - up about a quarter since 2016 - suggesting return on capital will get worse before it gets better as the firm waits for a payoff from new exploration under Woods.

Graphic on Exxon's Quarterly Earnings: http://tmsnrt.rs/1WQwElC

Rivals including Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) and Chevron (CVX.N), by contrast, have capped or cut their spending after finishing expansion projects. Exxon shares are down 18 percent since Woods took over in January 2017. Shell is up 2 percent and Chevron is down about 3 percent during the same period.

Exxon Relents, Wipes Oil Sands Reserves From Its Books Low prices force the oil giant to stop counting 3.5 billion barrels as an asset, a major turnaround in its accounting

==

wash ex ?!

New Exxon CEO wants climate deal to stay intact

By JOHN SICILIANO • 2/23/17 6:07 PM

Exxon Mobil's new chairman and CEO, Darren Woods, supports the Paris climate change deal and wants the U.S. to take action to combat global warming.

"I believe, and my company believes, that climate risks warrant action and it's going to take all of us – business, governments and consumers – to make meaningful progress," Woods said in his first blog post since taking the helm of the major oil company.

Woods replaces former CEO Rex Tillerson, who left the company after being selected by President Trump to serve as secretary of state.

"At Exxon Mobil, we're encouraged that the pledges made at last year's Paris Accord create an effective framework for all countries to address rising emissions," Woods said. "In fact, our company forecasts carbon reductions consistent with the results of the Paris accord commitments."

Woods' statement comes the same day a group of 300 climate skeptics urged Trump to pull out of the United Nations' climate framework, which would essentially cancel the U.S.'s obligations under the Paris agreement that former President Barack Obama signed onto in December 2015.

Trump has pledged to withdraw from the Paris agreement. He also is expected to issue an executive order soon that rolls back the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan, which imposes emissions reductions on the states and is part of the U.S.'s plan to meet its obligations under the non-binding Paris deal. Scientists blame greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels, such as crude oil, for driving manmade climate change.

Woods said the company is still in the business of feeding the world's growing demand for energy, which "creates a dual challenge" of both "providing energy to meet people's needs while managing the risks of climate change."

He is convinced that the challenge will be met "by taking advantage of human ingenuity, embracing free markets and enacting sound government policies," he added.

"We can meet the world's energy needs and meet all of our shared aspirations in an environmentally and socially responsible way," he said. "ExxonMobil is committed to achieving these goals."

Exxon Mobil wasted no time in announcing on Wednesday that Darren W. Woods, the company president, would succeed Rex W. Tillerson as chairman and chief executive now that Mr. Tillerson has been nominated to head the State Department.

Mr. Woods, who is already something of a globe-trotting good-will ambassador for Exxon Mobil, has long been considered the heir apparent and is unlikely to shift the company in a radically new direction.

The board promoted him to president last December as the company prepared for Mr. Tillerson’s scheduled retirement next March. The timetable was accelerated this week when President-elect Donald J. Trump tapped Mr. Tillerson to become secretary of state.

Mr. Woods formally takes over on Jan. 1. As head of the biggest United States oil company, he can be expected to be a major spokesman for the industry as the Trump administration considers an overhaul of energy and environmental policy.

And at age 51, Mr. Woods will be in a position to lead the company for many years, given Exxon Mobil’s mandatory retirement age of 65 for the top job.

Mr. Woods is known for his congenial manner. The company sends him far and wide to cut ribbons on new projects and otherwise pave the way for deal making.

Like Mr. Tillerson, Mr. Woods is a trained engineer. But he comes from the company’s chemical and refining businesses — unlike past Exxon Mobil heads who worked their way up the exploration and production side of the company. His ascension is in part a recognition by Exxon Mobil’s board that chemicals and refining have become particularly important profit centers at a time when oil and gas prices have been slumping.

Mr. Woods is also known as a quick study who has delved into the drilling side of the business, which continues to dominate Exxon Mobil even though the company has had trouble in recent years finding additional reserves to replace depleting oil and gas fields...

12/16

replace rex 2016?

oops see main

https://books.google.com/books?id=APDGDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

after oreskes, kocks, darren wood ceo exxon promised 180 eboy trump

defectors

fear of lawsuits (B/c of discovery eg tobacco files?)

https://www.c-span.org/video/?469372-1/the-triumph-doubt

The Triumph of Doubt

Former Obama and Clinton administrations official David Michaels talks about the use of “science for hire” in the creation of public policy.

oxford up oct 2020

https://stonefortgroup.com/ceo-darren-woods-exxonmobil-committed-environment-clean-energy/

no date

EO Darren Woods: ExxonMobil is committed to environment and clean energy

HOUSTON – ExxonMobil’s new CEO renewed his company’s commitment to environmental compliance and clean energy at the CERAWeek conference in Houston.

“I believe the assumption that affordable energy and a cleaner environment are a zero-sum game is mistaken,” explained Woods. “It underestimates the power of technology. The zero-sum view is a static one, and the world of energy is anything but static. But technology changes the equation. It makes a dream – growing the economy while reducing emissions – a reality.

Woods then outlined a series of progressive steps that ExxonMobil is taking in the clean energy sector:

Take carbon capture and storage. It is a technology we have invested in – and will continue to. We currently have an interest in about one-quarter of the world’s carbon capture and storage capacity.

Last year, we announced a technology partnership to research whether carbonate fuels cells can be used to more economically capture carbon dioxide at scale – enabling widespread use.

By capturing CO2 in gas-fired power generation before it is emitted, this potential game-changer enables us to envision a future in which hydrocarbon use and de-carbonization go hand-in-hand.

In the manufacturing process area, we recently announced a new technology we call “cMIST” that enables us to more efficiently dehydrate natural gas. cMIST reduces the surface footprint for this process by 70%. It also reduces energy use and emissions.

Our scientists are working with MIT, Princeton, Stanford, the University of Texas and Georgia Tech – among others – to advance fundamental research that could significantly reduce emissions and profoundly shape our energy and environmental future.

Through our work with Georgia Tech, we have pioneered a new membrane for the process of reverse osmosis that enables us to convert oil and natural gas to higher-value fuels and chemicals. If we can scale it, this breakthrough could reduce global carbon-dioxide emissions up to 45 million tons, annually.

We are incorporating fuel-saving technologies into a portfolio of innovative products that enable cars and trucks to go further with less, including advanced synthetic lubricants, improved tire liners and lightweight plastic body parts. If these existing technologies and others were applied to a third of the vehicles in this country, it would avoid greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to removing 8 million cars from the road.

Our new polymers can make plastic films that are strong but light and thin. This helps to safely preserve food for longer, reducing spoilage, and ultimately reducing emissions.

We are a leader in cogeneration – a technology that uses waste heat to generate steam and reduces the need to burn fuel and emit more. ExxonMobil’s cogeneration capacity worldwide is the equivalent of the annual energy needed to power 2.5 million U.S. homes. That’s a sizeable environmental savings.

In addition, we are deploying an entire suite of technologies at our refineries and chemical plants to strengthen our environmental performance: new systems to recover gas that would otherwise be flared; specialized cameras to detect fugitive emissions so that they can be stopped; advanced burners to minimize emissions.

In the area of climate regulation, policies fostering transparent, uniform carbon prices that allow market forces to drive effective solutions, minimize administrative burdens and promote global participation can be effective.

We worked with Stanford to develop new software for estimating the potential impact injection wells could have on seismic fault lines.

>> Link to original article.

methane emssisions capt?

Meet Darren Woods, the Man Who Will Replace Exxon CEO .../13 › meet-exxons-next-ceo

Dec 13, 2016 - With President-elect Donald Trump picking longtime Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson to serve as U.S. Secretary of State, there's soon to be a ...