Exxon Fluffs Social "Responsiblity" Report While Still Funneling Big Bucks To Climate Denial Groups
At a time of immense political pressure over its stance on climate change, Exxon Mobil Corp. has beefed up its public positioning on warming in its latest corporate social responsibility report to shareholders.
Exxon has supported a carbon tax that would be revenue-neutral -- the proceeds would offset other taxes on corporations or personal income -- since 2009. The 2015 Corporate Citizenship Report released last week expands on its carbon tax proposal and painstakingly describes the company's contributions to climate research and a historic climate agreement reached in Paris last year. The climate section overall fills 12 pages, up from seven the previous year.
At the same time, the report shows Exxon donated hundreds of thousands of dollars in 2015 to groups that oppose climate policy or a carbon tax, including $61,000 to the American Legislative Exchange Council, $200,000 to the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research and $325,000 to the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research.
Funding these groups does not contradict Exxon's stance on climate policy as detailed in the report, said company spokesman Alan Jeffers. "We don't endorse every position of every organization we fund," he said. "We promote discussion on issues that are relevant to the company through contributions to organizations such as these."
EDIT
Whatever, Alan.
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