ExxonMobil, the world’s largest stock-listed oil corporation, will run into trouble at its annual meeting this week.
New figures reveal that it has increased payments dramatically to groups campaigning against the Kyoto Treaty and statistics about global warming accepted by its European rivals.
Exxon has strenuously argued that it has been wrongly vilified by environmental groups in the Stop Esso campaign.
As a result, the corporation has launched a public relations offensive aimed at changing perceptions by highlighting a newfound willingness to take the environment more seriously.
But close reading of new documents posted on the company’s website shows that it has ramped up contributions to a range of groups which have been fighting against cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.
The company is already facing two hostile resolutions on climate change and renewable energy from shareholders concerned that its image is being damaged.
Green campaigners will also be out in force at the AGM. ”Exxon claims to be taking climate change more seriously now, but the evidence is to the contrary. The company spent hundreds of thousands of dollars last year supporting advocacy groups that seriously question the science of global warming,” said a spokeswoman for the StopEsso campaign.
Gordon Sawyer, United Kingdom Public Affairs manager for Exxon, vigorously defended its funding of the institutions, saying that these are ”respected” in the United States and that Exxon is ”just one of a great many contributors”. — Â