Exxon makes a cold calculation on global warming

[struggle4progress]

Tuesday, June 14, 2005

By Jeffrey Ball, The Wall Street Journal


ANNANDALE, N.J. -- At Exxon Mobil Corp.'s laboratories here, there isn't a solar panel or windmill in sight. About the closest Exxon's scientists get to "renewable" energy is perfecting an oil that Exxon could sell to companies operating wind turbines.

Oil giants such as BP PLC and Royal Dutch/Shell Group are trumpeting a better-safe-than-sorry approach to global warming. They accept a growing scientific consensus that fossil fuels are a main contributor to the problem and endorse the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which caps emissions from developed nations that have ratified it. BP and Shell also have begun to invest in alternatives to fossil fuels.

Not Exxon. Openly and unapologetically, the world's No. 1 oil company disputes the notion that fossil fuels are the main cause of global warming. Along with the Bush administration, Exxon opposes the Kyoto accord and the very idea of capping global-warming emissions. Congress is debating an energy bill that may be amended to include a cap, but the administration and Exxon say the costs would be huge and the benefits uncertain. Exxon also contributes money to think tanks and other groups that agree with its stance. <snip>

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05165/521398.stm

[thegreatwildebeest]

1. Read that today...

I was reading that today, and I can't say I was surprised. It is what they do after all. Their interest, like many other energy companies that are not integrated (though Exxon is) or are defined solely to either the oil or the natural gas market, there going to be keep plugging aweay at what they do, and continuing the investment to make sure they keep it going as long as possible. At the same time, i would hesitate to say that either BP or Shell have any sort of siginificant funding in either of the two renewable energy forms, though I think as wind continues to pick up as a mitigating source and as a way to reach new constitutionally mandated renewable energy requirements, you'll see more investment in that.

[hatrack]

2. Shell and BP have made some substantial solar investments

However, "substantial" depends on your perceptions to a degree. A few hundred million here or there is a staggering amount of money to you or me. To Shell or BP, it's a few tenths of percentages of total net worth.

[Coastie for Truth]

3. An interesting turn around for BP

In the mid 1980's they shut down their first PV program, laid off their PV people, did not renew their university PV research grants, and terminated their PV vendor contracts. One hundred percent shut down.

Admitted, there were other issues.