Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Exxon Mobil dismisses a low carbon future and puts faith in oil markets


Andrew Logan and Ryan Salmon 
Monday 7 April 2014 13.00 EDT

 Exxon Mobil has reported that none of its oil reserves will be stranded now or in the future and claims a low carbon scenario is 'highly unlikely'. But what if it's wrong?

rosneft exxonmobil deal
An oil drilling platform on the Siberian tundra. Globally, there are three times more fossil fuel reserves than can be burned if the world is to avoid potentially catastrophic global warming. Photograph: Gerd Ludwig/Corbis
 
 
When an international group of 77 institutional investors with more than $3tn in assets asked the world's 45 largest fossil fuel companies to assess the risks that climate change poses to their business, they were aware they were asking a tough, complex question. 

Knowing this, investors launched the Carbon Asset Risk Initiative to spur fossil fuel companies to assess the risks climate change poses to their business based on two scenarios: a business-as-usual scenario under which the world's fossil fuel use continues to grow, warming the earth to levels society may not be able to adapt to; and a low-carbon scenario where governments achieve their stated goal of limiting the average temperature rise to below 2C.

Many of the 45 companies that received this request are responding – among those, Exxon Mobil, the world's largest publicly traded energy company, which agreed to publish a report after investors agreed to withdraw a pair of related shareholder resolutions.

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