Exxon Mobil dismisses a low carbon future and puts faith in oil markets
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.
This agreement was considered by many to be groundbreaking. And if the company had in fact provided the information requested by investors, the report itself would have been. While the report is a positive step, providing investors with useful information about the company's views on managing climate risk, it mostly sidesteps investors' concerns by dismissing a low carbon scenario as "highly unlikely" and glossing over the climate change implications of the company's own Outlook for Energy.
http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/exxon-mobil-low-carbon-oil-markets?CMP=twt_gu