Financial Times | ExxonMobil’s recent Global Outlook report claims the EU’s “high-regulation, high-cost” approach to decarbonization is increasing energy prices, hurting the economy, and diminishing public support for the energy transition.
Environmental groups and shareholder activists, however, have criticized Exxon, claiming the company is trying to undermine global climate action and is unprepared for the inevitable shift away from fossil fuels.
Mark van Baal, founder of Follow This, a Dutch shareholder activist group, said Exxon’s claims were further proof that the oil and gas industry was putting enormous effort into resisting change.
“Exxon is blind to the inevitable disruptive innovation of clean energy. With or without climate policy, oil and gas demand will structurally fall in the next decade, and Exxon is not prepared,” he said.
“If the company continues to ignore the reality that many markets are transitioning to a diversified energy mix, their shareholders will ultimately intervene,” van Baal added.
Exxon sued Follow This in the US last year, claiming that a climate petition the activist group filed against it breached US securities rules. The lawsuit was dismissed by a Texas judge.
The supermajor has faced criticism in the US, where it is being sued by several states over allegations that it misled the public about climate change and the dangers of fossil fuels. The company denies these claims.
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