ExxonMobil has been holding a series of secret meetings with environmental and human rights groups worldwide in an effort to change its hard-nosed public image.
The moves have been seized on by the Stop Esso campaign as a sign that its boycott activities aimed at changing the company’s anti-Kyoto treaty views are working.
Exxon insists it has not changed its mind on substantive issues but believes it has become misunderstood and needs to engage more with the outside world.
”This is new for us and we have been determined to listen first and not just talk,” said Frank Sprow, vice-president of safety, health and the environment at Exxon and a close lieutenant of chairperson and CEO Lee Raymond.
The charm offensive does appear to indicate fears at Exxon’s Texas headquarters that a negative public image is threatening to damage its Esso petrol brand.
The world’s largest listed oil group has been presented by critics as playing a pivotal role in encouraging United States President George W Bush to reject the Kyoto treaty. They also see Exxon being seen as a potential buyer of a stake in Russian oil group Yukos as a possible reason why that country’s president, Vladimir Putin, has gone cold on an early signing of Kyoto.
There are also concerns about the group’s involvement in controversial regions such as Chad and Indonesia.
Exxon has been holding unpublicised meetings in Asia with NGOs following one in Belgium and an earlier meeting in Britain.
The British seminar is understood to have been attended by the World Wildlife Fund, although Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace and other supporters of the Stop Esso campaign say they were not invited.
Cindy Baxter, a spokesperson for the Stop Esso campaign, remains unconvinced. ”This looks like PR. They need to stop funding right-wing groups and climate change sceptics if they want to convince anyone they are really changing,” she said. — Â