Exxon Is Trying to Find the Guy Who Did Climate Change

So brave.

Nothing to See Here

This just in: once again, ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods has some thoughts on that whole pesky climate crisis.

Bloomberg reports that in a Wednesday speech at the San Francisco-held "CEO Summit," Woods expressed his frustration with global climate mitigation efforts, decrying the besmirchment of the fossil fuel industry and urging that oil and gas suppliers are the good guys, actually.

"Oil and gas companies reliably provide affordable products essential to modern life," Woods reportedly told the crowd. "Making them into villains is easy. But it does nothing — absolutely nothing — to accomplish the goal of reducing emissions."

To the CEO's point: villainizing the fossil fuel industry is easy, considering that coal, oil and gas are "by far the largest contributor to global climate change," according to the United Nations. It's also very easy to villainize Exxon in particular. The oil giant has faced mounting public and legal pressure in the years since a 2016 investigation revealed that Exxon knew about the connection between fossil fuels and climate change as early as 1977 — and proceeded to ignore and even allegedly undermine that science over the decades that followed.

But per Bloomberg, Woods said on Wednesday that to focus on "reducing supply" — in other words: to focus on them — is hogwash. Rather, if the world wants to "get real" about net zero, governments should instead be putting taxpayer dollars into tech-driven efforts like carbon capture. You know, so we can finally get to the bottom of this environmental disaster!

Sherlock Exxon

That sounds a lot like arguing that cigarette companies shouldn't be held responsible for causing a public health crisis when we can focus on high-tech solutions like chemotherapy — but sure, guy.

Elsewhere in his speech, Woods reportedly made the inexplicable choice to touch on the "ExxonKnew" campaign, contending that though some folks might be fixated on "what they think Exxon knew back then," he's personally "more interested in what ExxonMobil knows today." Which, apparently, happens to be the most basic, guilt-free climate history that Woods could have pulled out of his CEO Talking Points hat.

"Climate change is real," Woods triumphantly declared, per Bloomberg. "Human activity plays a major role." As for what this exact human activity might be? Unclear, it seems. But rest assured, according to Woods, Exxon is ready to throw its weight behind efforts to figure it out.

"We've got the tools, the skills, the size — and the intellectual and financial resources — to bend the curve on emissions," said the handsomely paid executive, according to Bloomberg. "That's what ExxonMobil knows."

More on climate change: As Climate Doom Looms, We're Drilling for More Fossil Fuels than Ever Before