---
title: "Exxon Is Trying to Find the Guy Who Did Climate Change"
description: "Did you do climate change? If so, ExxonMobil's CEO is out to find you. And while he works on that, he thinks you should worry less about oil."
date: "2023-11-18"
modified: "2023-11-18"
authors:
  - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré"
    job_title: "Senior Staff Writer"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/exxon-climate-change-get-real"
categories:
  - "Climate Change"
  - "Environment"
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "climate change"
  - "exxon mobil"
  - "fossil fuel"
  - "the digest"
---

# Exxon Is Trying to Find the Guy Who Did Climate Change

![Did you do climate change? If so, ExxonMobil's CEO is out to find you. And while he works on that, he thinks you should worry less about oil.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/exxon-climate-change-get-real.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Justin Sullivan via Getty\</em\>*

## Nothing to See Here

This just in: once again, ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods has some thoughts on that [whole pesky climate crisis](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/exxon-predicts-climate-efforts-fail>).

*Bloomberg* [reports that](<https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2023-11-16/exxon-urges-the-world-to-get-real-on-climate-change>) 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](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/fossil-fuel-production-doubling>) 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](<https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/science/causes-effects-climate-change#:~:text=Fossil%20fuels%20%E2%80%93%20coal%2C%20oil%20and,they%20trap%20the%20sun's%20heat.>). 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](<https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/exxon-knew-about-climate-change-almost-40-years-ago/>) 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](<https://futurism.com/exxon-scientists-global-warming-denied>) 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](<https://exxonknew.org/>)" 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](<https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2023/01/harvard-led-analysis-finds-exxonmobil-internal-research-accurately-predicted-climate-change/#:~:text=Specifically%2C%20Exxon%20projected%20that%20fossil,has%20been%20proven%20largely%20accurate.>). 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*](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/fossil-fuel-production-doubling>)

## Author
At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride."

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/mharrisondupre.bsky.social>)