New evidence of Exxon’s lies will boost accountability efforts

ExxonMobil executives — including former CEO Rex Tillerson — continued to undermine climate science, obscure the dangers of fossil fuels, and lie about the company’s commitment to solutions for years after publicly acknowledging the reality of climate change, according to new reporting by the Wall Street Journal. 

Never-before-seen internal communications provide new evidence of Exxon’s decades-long climate deception as the oil giant faces a growing wave of lawsuits seeking to hold the company accountable. 

Despite claiming to support the Paris Accord, Tillerson called the goal of limiting global warming to 2 degree Celsius “something magical” during a 2015 presentation to Exxon’s board of directors, according to documents summarizing the meeting. Tillerson suggested that 2.5 degrees is “good enough” because it would already be “very expensive” to reduce emissions to meet that goal, per the Wall Street Journal’s reporting.

In July 2013, as Exxon executives were growing worried about public perception of their drilling projects in the Arctic amid rapid glacier melting, an internal email from a corporate issues advisor put Exxon’s image issue plainly.

“As this shapes up, part of the moral argument for leaving the Arctic alone will be based on this notion that it is fundamentally unjust for the people who prompted the ice melt to then profit from development,” the email reads. “It’s one reason I think we will need to push back hard- albeit in a nuanced way- against this notion that the whole area is ‘pristine’ and untouched by the hand of man.”

Protecting Exxon’s oil operations from the growing urgency to act on climate change has in fact been the company’s true priority for decades, according to the Journal.

A 1988 memo from Exxon’s then-head of corporate research, Frank Sprow, noted “If a worldwide consensus emerges that action is needed to mitigate against Greenhouse gas effects, substantial negative impacts on Exxon could occur.” In response, Sprow continued, the two “primary purposes” of Exxon’s climate research moving forward should be: “1. Protect the value of our resources (oil, gas, coal). 2. Preserve Exxon’s business options.” 

Sprow told the Journal that this memo became official company policy.

These latest findings only add to the mountain of documents proving Exxon’s longtime climate deception and efforts to avoid accountability for raking in profits while fueling the climate crisis.

“As communities pay an ever-greater price for our worsening climate crisis,” CCI’s Richard Wiles said,  “it’s more clear than ever that Exxon must be held accountable to pay for the harm it has caused.”