14/06/2004

In a speech made at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars last Monday, the American CEO of ExxonMobil (aka Esso) Lee Raymond made a mockery of the companies recent advertising pitch in Britain – that Esso are taking on "the world's toughest energy challenge: climate change.” When asked about Global Warming the Esso boss expressed, as he often has, his scepticism about the science and predicted that in the decades ahead “carbon dioxide emissions from greater fossil fuel use will climb."

"We simply do not yet have the economic solutions or technologies that would permit us to meet future energy demands without carbon emissions growth," Raymond said.
He also scoffed at suggestions – increasingly heard among opposition politicians in Washington - of American energy independence.

America does “not have the resource base to be energy independent," Raymond argued and so must maintain “constructive relationships” with oil producing countries. This would inevitably mean relying heavily on ‘friendly’ governments in the Middle East, because the Middle East holds as much as half of the worlds oil reserves. "We simply cannot avoid significant reliance on oil and gas from the Middle East,” Raymond stated.

These were what he called the "hard truths" about global energy markets.

Clearly then, what Esso really mean when they say they are taking on ‘the world’s toughest energy challenge: climate change’, is that they are going to carry on with business as usual, regardless. Unfortunately for the rest of us however, the really ‘hard truth’ about global energy markets is that if we want to avoid the risk of global warming careering out of control we must not burn more than a quarter of known fuel reserves. Climate scientists have calculated that if the planet warms faster than just 0.1 degree C every 10 years we could cross a line beyond which changes in our weather patterns will become rapid, unpredictable and irreversible. This means that three quarters of the oil, coal and gas already found must remain locked under ground and never used.

For Lee Raymond to stick his head in the sand and maintain, in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence, that carbon emissions have got to keep on growing is about as irresponsible as you can get. The intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have warned that 60-80% cuts in CO2 emissions are needed in order to stabilise levels of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere and so prevent further destabilisation of the global climate. If Esso, the worlds biggest oil company, led the way in investing in renewable energy and stopped blocking efforts to reduce emissions, then the U.S could begin to go some way towards meeting this target. It would also help America go some way toward ‘energy independence’ – a wise strategy in light, of both, the threat of climate change and the chaos and instability in the Middle East unleashed by the Iraq war.

Instead, Esso’s massive vested interest in keeping America hooked on oil, is putting the whole world at risk of catastrophic climate change. But hey, at least it keeps the share holders happy!

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