Corporate environmental wallpapering: Case ExxonMobil!




Environmental Group Attacks ExxonMobil On Research

Posted By: Intellpuke


An environmental group Sunday took aim at ExxonMobil with the launch of an online video attacking the oil giant's green credentials.

The "Exxon Files", from Friends of the Earth Europe (FoE Europe), sets out claims that the U.S.-based corporation funds climate change deniers in Europe and the U.S.

The animated video, which spoofs the X-Files TV series, features two fictional agents - Deny Fully and Rexx Tiller, of the Federal Bureau of Inconvenience - who are hired by ExxonMobil to hide the truth about the negative environmental impact of its business.

To achieve this they secretly fund scientists, thinktanks and lobbyists skeptical about climate change.

Christine Phol, a campaigner for FoE Europe, said: "ExxonMobil invests millions of euros funding and lobbyists committed to blocking internationally agreed policies to combat climate change whilst at the same time spending major sums on advertising designed to present itself as an environmentally responsible company."

The group wants viewers of the video to register their support online for a planned complaint to Belgian authorities over Exxon advertisements at Brussels airport.

In the ads, Exxon claims to be reducing its greenhouse gas emissions, but FoE Europe said data from the company's corporate citizenship report showed Exxon's CO2 emissions increased by 8.7 million metric tons between 2003 and 2006.

Paul de Clerck, another FoE Europe campaigner, said the advertisements were one example of ExxonMobil's "deliberately misleading advertising campaign".

"The 'greening' of oil giant Exxon is nothing more than a slick public relations exercise," he said. "Instead of spending millions of manipulating the facts, they should make real efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions."

An ExxonMobil spokesman rejected the criticism. He said: "The recycling of this type of discredited conspiracy theory only diverts attention from the real challenge at hand: how to provide the energy needed to sustain and improve global living standards while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions."

He said ExxonMobil is taking action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and was also "supporting research into technology breakthroughs and participating in constructive dialogue on policy options".

Citing examples, he said the company was working with car manufacturers on programs that could lead to fuel economy improvements, and partnering with the European Commission to study carbon capture and storage technologies.

ExxonMobil has been criticised in the past for backing organisations that are sceptical about climate change. Last year the Royal Society called on Esso, the U.K. arm of ExxonMobil, to withdraw support for dozens of groups that have "misrepresented the science of climate change by outright denial of the evidence".

Intellpuke: You can read this article by The Obeserver's writer Alison Benjamin, reporting from Manchester, England, in context here: www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/sep/26/climatechange

See also: http://eux.tv/article.aspx?articleId=15165

Another American organization funded by Exxon is The Heartland Institute which received 115,000 dollars from ExxonMobil in 2006 and is currently running a year long 1,000,000 dollar ad campaign entitled 'Global Warming is Not a Crisis' in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Washington Times, according to Friends of the Earth.