Exxon-Mobil, the most active and biggest funder of climate change denial organizations has now changed its mind. In the face of the latest IPCC repot, they no longer deny that anthropogenic climate change his happening. I guess this explains why the White House has also stopped denying climate change. However, they both are now denying that they ever denied climate change! (But I haven’t heard Fox News change its tune yet.)
This is hilarious. But at least they no longer deny the most important issue facing humanity, so perhaps we can now move the debate to what should be done about it. Meanwhile America, and Exxon-Mobil, have let Europe and European energy companies take a huge lead in renewable energy.
Here’s an excerpt from The Washington Post:
Exxon Mobil Warming Up To Global Climate Issue
By Steven Mufson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, February 10, 2007; D01
When it comes to the issue of climate change, Exxon Mobil says it has been misunderstood.
“Many people want to stick us in a bucket that says we want to deny this,” said the company’s vice president for public affairs, Kenneth P. Cohen, during a conference call this week. “That is flat wrong.”
Cohen said that the world’s largest publicly traded oil company, long the leading corporate symbol of skepticism about global warming, has never denied the existence of climate change. He added that “the global ecosystem is showing signs of warming, particularly in polar areas” and “the appropriate debate isn’t on whether the climate is changing but rather should be on what we should be doing about it.”
The modest statement, coupled with the disclosure last year that the company is no longer funding a Washington think tank critical of climate change actions, is reshaping the oil giant’s role in congressional efforts to control greenhouse gas emissions.
