FoEI

the contribution of exxonmobil to climate change since 1882

ExxonMobil is one of the biggest oil companies in the world, and is also known as Esso, Mobil, Imperial Oil, Tonen General and Exxon, in different countries. ExxonMobil produces 4.5 million barrels of oil a day. In 2002 alone, it sold 2,831 million barrels of oil. This is equivalent to 298 million tonnes of carbon.

For many years ExxonMobil has been active in undermining climate science and policy making, in particular by lobbying against the Kyoto Protocol, the main international agreement to tackle climate change. In spring 2003, Friends of the Earth commissioned two ground-breaking studies by independent experts to establish the contribution ExxonMobil has made to climate change since 1882. This briefing summarises their findings and assesses their potential implications.

The first study estimated the carbon dioxide and methane emissions from ExxonMobil’s operations and the burning of its products back to its early days as the Standard Oil Trust in 1882. The second study used these figures to run a well-known climate model to calculate the contribution these emissions have made, and will make, to atmospheric concentrations of these gases, to increases in global average surface temperature and to sea level rise. 

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