Exxon caves to their investors’ call for a more true environmental impact report – Kaieteur News

Exxon caves to their investors’ call for a more true environmental impact report


Kaieteur News – ExxonMobil’s oil supermxon has finally succumbed to investor pressure to begin reporting, on an annual basis, Scope Three emissions, a category of emissions that it has avoided disclosing for many years. This follows a plan it announced last month to reduce its emissions by fixed periods.
For many climate activists and climate-conscious investors, Exxon’s additional reports provide a more true representation of the impact of ExxonMobil’s work on the global environment. ExxonMobil disagrees.
Simply put, there are three acceptable emissions categories for this type of reporting from companies like ExxonMobil: Scopes One, Two and Three.
In its report entitled ‘ExxonMobil Energy and Carbon Summary 2021’, it is explained that Scope One emissions data generally covers the direct greenhouse gas emissions of ExxonMobil operations, while Scope Two data tells investors and the public about the emissions indirect greenhouse gases from purchased energy. by the company to power its operations.
Scope Three data refers to “indirect” greenhouse gas emissions (as it states) arising from the use of the company’s products. Exxon’s sales of petroleum products for 2019 amounted to 730 million metric tons of carbon dioxide.
Exxon disagrees with claims that Scope Three’s emission data represents its own efforts to protect the global environment fairly, as it said those emissions were beyond its control.
He said, “Because Scope One and Scope Two emissions are within the direct control of a company, the criteria for their identification and reporting are well established, transparent and consistent across industries.”
“However, reporting of Scope Three emissions is less certain and less consistent,” he says. “Evaluating the Scope of Three companies’ emissions and comparing them with other companies can be challenging due to inconsistent reporting methodologies, as well as potential duplication, inconsistencies and inaccuracies that may occur when reporting emissions resulting from activities from assets not owned by or which are not controlled by them. the reporting organization. The International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association (IPIECA) recognizes these issues. “
He further requested that Scope Three emissions are misleading in providing insight into the company’s emission reduction performance because, for example, data on increased natural gas sales for power generation would show an increase in Scope Three emissions despite the impact of sales such do. find out how much coal is burned for power generation.
Exxon said that meaningful Scope Three emission reductions would eventually be driven by changes in society’s energy use and the development of more affordable low emission technologies.
It is only in the coming years that this company will see more pressure from climate-conscious investors, as its investors have ranked it as a poor performer in the oil industry, in terms of reporting.
In the past two years, investors such as Legal and General Investment Management Limited (LGIM) and the Church of England have left Exxon stocks out of dissatisfaction with its performance. The charge has been led by its European shareholders, in this regard.
Exxon has also faced numerous lawsuits from US states such as New York and Massachusetts, as well as US local government leaders, who claim to have made damning findings years ago about the impact its operations would have access to the environment, and that he deliberately concealed this information. so it could tell its shareholders and the public about the true environmental cost of its work.



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