Criticism of ExxonMobil

As the world's largest majority investor-owned oil and gas corporation, ExxonMobil has received significant amounts of controversy and criticism, mostly due to its activities which increase the speed of climate change and its denial of global warming.

The largest direct descendant of Standard Oil is also attributed to various human rights violations, especially in Indonesia, and for its vast possession and usage of geopolitical influence. The latter of which has given rise to ExxonMobil being referred to as a "private empire", a describer first used by journalist Steve Coll.

Environmental incidents

ExxonMobil's environmental record has faced much criticism for its stance[1] and impact on global warming.[2] In 2018, the Political Economy Research Institute ranks ExxonMobil tenth among American corporations emitting airborne pollutants,[3] thirteenth by emitting greenhouse gases,[4] and sixteenth by emitting water pollutants.[5] A 2017 report places ExxonMobil as the fifth largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions from 1998 to 2015.[6][7]

Response to climate change

From the late 1970s through the 1980s and prior to the merger with Mobil, Exxon funded research broadly in line with the developing public scientific approach.[45] After the 1980s, Exxon curtailed its own climate research and became a leader in climate change denial.[46][47][48][49] In 2014, ExxonMobil publicly acknowledged climate change risk.[50] It nominally supports a carbon tax, though that support is weak,[51]

Geopolitical influence

A July 2012 Daily Telegraph review of Steve Coll's book, Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power, says that he thinks that ExxonMobil is "able to determine American foreign policy and the fate of entire nations".[64] ExxonMobil increasingly drills in terrains leased to them by dictatorships, such as those in Chad and Equatorial Guinea.[64] Steve Coll describes Lee Raymond, the corporation's chief executive until 2005, as "notoriously skeptical about climate change and disliked government interference at any level".[64]

The book was also reviewed in The Economist, according to which "ExxonMobil is easy to caricature, and many critics have done so.... It is to Steve Coll's credit that Private Empire, his new book about ExxonMobil, refuses to subscribe to such a simplistic view." The review describes the company's power in dealing with the countries in which it drills as "constrained". It notes that the company shut down its operations in Indonesia to distance itself from the abuses committed against the population by that country's army and that it decided to drill in Chad only after the World Bank agreed to ensure that the oil royalties were used for the population's benefit. The review closes by noting that "A world addicted to ExxonMobil's product needs to look in the mirror before being too critical of how relentlessly the company supplies it."

Indonesian human rights violations

ExxonMobil is the target of human rights violations accusations for actions taken by the corporation in the Indonesian territory of Aceh. In June 2001, a lawsuit against ExxonMobil was filed in the Federal District Court of the District of Columbia under the Alien Tort Claims Act.[69] The suit alleges that the ExxonMobil knowingly assisted human rights violations, including torture, murder and rape, by employing and providing material support to Indonesian military forces, who committed the alleged offenses during civil unrest in Aceh.[70] Human rights complaints involving Exxon's (Exxon and Mobil had not yet merged) relationship with the Indonesian military first arose in 1992; the company denies these accusations and filed a motion to dismiss the suit, which was denied in 2008 by a federal judge, though granted by another federal judge in August 2009.[71][72]

2022 rise in oil prices

ExxonMobil was one of the many large oil and gas companies which reported record profits on multiple instances in 2022, amidst the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the inflation surge, attracting global criticism. US President Joe Biden has criticized ExxonMobil specifically, and in June amidst record oil prices, stated that "Exxon made more money than God this year".[73] CNN ran a headline amidst the oil giant reporting its second quarter earnings in 2022, calculating that Exxon made $2,245.62 USD per second in profit across the 92-day long second quarter.[74] Biden again slammed Exxon and the rest of the oil industry during third quarter earnings calls, urging the US Congress to pass new taxes on the record profits companies like Exxon saw.[75]

Baton Rouge refinery nooses

In March 2023, ExxonMobil was sued by the federal government for the display of nooses in two of their Louisiana refineries. They are accused by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission of creating a hostile work environment and violating civil rights laws. The nooses were discovered in a storage shed at their Baton Rouge refinery and in a tree at their Beaumont refinery. The lawsuit is seeking damages and an injunction to stop the company from displaying nooses in the future.[76][77]

See also

• Allison v. ExxonMobil Corp.
• Climate change denial
• Criticism of Chevron
• Engine No. 1
• History of ExxonMobil
• People of the State of New York v. Exxon Mobil Corp.
• The Power of Big Oil

External links