--- title: "Exxon Mobil Predicts Climate Efforts Will Fail" description: "Oil giant Exxon Mobil, one of the more prominent architects of our planet's doom, says that humanity is likely to miss 2050 climate goals." date: "2023-09-01" modified: "2023-09-01" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/exxon-predicts-climate-efforts-fail" categories: - "Climate Change" - "Environment" - "Science & Energy" tags: - "big oil" - "climate change" - "exxon mobil" - "the digest" --- # Exxon Mobil Predicts Climate Efforts Will Fail ![Oil giant Exxon Mobil, one of the more prominent architects of our planet's doom, says that humanity is likely to miss 2050 climate goals.]() *Forest fire burning out of control in a pine forest on the Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation in New Mexico. \Image: Raymond Gehman via Getty Images\* ## Pexximist Mobil According to Exxon Mobil, oil giant and one of the [more prominent architects]() of our planet's fossil fuel-laden doom, humanity is likely to fail its climate goals of halting a global temperature rise of two degrees Celsius by 2050. As [*The Wall Street Journal* reports](), Exxon published its grim prediction in a Monday climate report, effectively arguing that while global climate change efforts have made *some* progress — CO2 emissions caused by world fossil fuel consumption, the company posits, will fall by 25 billion metric tons by 2050, which will mark a 26 percent decrease from this decade's "peak of 34 billion," according to the *WSJ* — it simply won't be enough to curb that dreaded two-degree global temperature uptick. "An energy transition is underway," reads the Exxon report, [according to *Reuters*](), "but it is not yet happening at the scale or on the timetable required to achieve society's net-zero ambitions." Very bleak! And yet, according to the *WSJ*, Exxon *also*, in the very same report, argued that fossil fuels are conveniently still necessary to power worldwide economic growth. "Fossil fuels remain the most effective way," said the oil producer, "to produce the massive amounts of energy needed to create and support the manufacturing, commercial transportation, and industrial sectors that drive modern economies." Great. Thanks for nothing. ## Cigarette Marketing We really can't stress enough how ludicrous it is to receive such dismal climate projections from Exxon specifically. To back up for a second: in 2015, an [investigation]() revealed that executives at Exxon were made aware of the threat of greenhouse gas-caused climate change back in 1977, long before the public knew anything about it. They [chose to ignore the risk](), even spending millions to launch a long series of climate misinformation campaigns. Today, as the *WSJ* notes, the company is currently embroiled in a number of lawsuits related to climate deception. That's all to say that this latest report feels much like the cigarette lobby publishing a memo declaring that people are still dying from lung cancer, before turning around and explaining why cigarettes are still super useful and necessary long-term for social progress, actually. (Indeed, [there are *a lot* of similarities]() between the [cigarette lobby and oil giants]().) And in June of this year, it's worth noting, Exxon and Chevron shareholders [rejected a series of proposals]() aimed to further limit emissions. To Exxon's credit, it's probably right. The Earth is in a [very]() [bad place]() — and as long as Exxon's still [making upwards of $56 billion]() in oil sales annually, hitting our 2050 emissions targets is unlikely. **More on climate change:** [*UN Warns That We’ve Gone Beyond Global Warming and into "Global Boiling"*]() ## 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]()