CEO Darren Woods says casting Big Oil as villains harms the net zero drive.
Riding high on $65 billion worth of recent acquisitions and a 60% share-price rally during the past two years, Exxon Mobil Corp. Chief Executive Officer Darren Woods delivered a tough message to government officials and executives gathered in San Francisco on Wednesday.
“To get serious about net zero, the world needs to get real,” he said in a speech at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO Summit. “We cannot replace overnight an energy system that took 150 years to build.”
As the world’s largest investor-owned oil and gas company, and the subject of several climate-deception lawsuits, Exxon appears to be one of the least-qualified companies to pontificate on the energy transition.
But the world has changed a lot since the height of the ESG movement two years ago. Europe is facing a second winter without Russian gas, and Asia is seeking to lock in access to the energy needed to underpin long-term economic growth.
Attacking Big Oil for supplying fossil fuels will only plunge more people into poverty and do nothing to tackle demand, Woods said. The “constructive approach” is for governments to back the industry’s technological efforts to reduce emissions — such as carbon capture — with taxpayer funds, he said.
Just two months ago, California sued major oil companies, including Exxon, for allegedly deceiving the public on climate change. If successful, the suit could further reduce the industry’s willingness to invest in big projects.
Woods encouraged Asia to follow more encouraging policies, like the US Inflation Reduction Act that subsidizes low-carbon technologies, rather than impose punitive measures.
“The solutions to climate change have been too focused on reducing supply,” he said. “That’s a recipe for human hardship.”
The executive also tried to flip the script on a slogan from the long-running “ExxonKnew” campaign, which claims that company executives downplayed warnings from their own scientists since the 1970s that carbon dioxide causes climate change.
“We’ve got the tools, the skills, the size — and the intellectual and financial resources — to bend the curve on emissions,” he said. “That’s what ExxonMobil knows.”
–Kevin Crowley, Bloomberg News
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2023-11-16/exxon-urges-the-world-to-get-real-on-climate-change
